Posts tagged “Happy Birthday”

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,

Less Is More Sponsor & Guest Designer

Happy Weekend!

I’m super excited to be here this morning, not only because Uniko is Octobers sponsor over at Less is More and that I am guest designing with them this week. BUT also because the Uniko October Release is NOW LIVE in store and available to purchase!

If you want to check out the cards I have made & shared yesterday about the October Release, pop on over HERE! I also couldn’t resist showing how one of the products being released, Festive Sentiments Outlined, can be used all year round…

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This fortnight the challenge is Rainbow. Who doesn’t LOVE a rainbow?! There are so many ways to interpret this challenge onto your card (don’t forget to keep it CAS) and I opted for a rainbow colour scheme.

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Rainbows make me happy, all those colours in one place is just a delight to see! As they make me happy I thought it appropriate to use the HAPPY sentiment from Festive Sentiments Outlined. I used my MISTI to stamp this three times on my card, coloured the inside of the word with Copics in a rainbow colour scheme and finished with the birthday sentiment from Birthday Sentiments clear stamp set.

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This wasn’t enough rainbow for me! So I set to thinking how I could keep the design CAS but add more rainbow colour. Ta-dah! A rainbow base card. I used my blender brushes to create a rainbow base card using a variety of Altenew ink colours. I adhered the stamped layer to it using foam adhesive for a little dimension and I was done. A CAS card with lots of colour!

That’s all the rainbow I had time for, but the Less is More team have lots more inspiration for you. Be sure to head on over HERE to see the rainbow delight awaiting you and all the challenge details and the link up for the challenge.

Thanks for stopping by & I hope you check out the New Release too 😉

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

Sailing Through The Week Like…

Happy Hump Day!

Who’s sailing smoothly through the week and who’s like me and sailing choppy waters?!

I can’t believe how much time has passed since I last shared inspiration here *gasps* with horror! Thanks for hanging in there with me in my absence recently. I promise I have been a busy bee behind the scenes 😉

Anyway, how about some Nautical Treasures inspiration…

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I’ve had these cards made & photographed for probably a month now! The last few weeks of the summer holidays here in the UK got a little busy with family visiting and day trips out. Then The Beans turned 5 *GASP* on the 2nd September and they started BIG school (full time) on the 3rd!

It hasn’t quite been smooth sailing as we all adjust to a new routine and to top it off this past weekend the dreaded back to school flu/cold bugs hit ME!!

Anyway, this masculine duo was inspired by my awesome DT member Jane. I love it when DT members think outside of the box when it comes to alternative uses for products and using the Tiger Print Stencil was Jane’s genius idea. You can see Jane’s inspiration HERE.

Sailing1bSo when I needed some waves for my cards I instantly thought to recreate Jane’s idea, which I have done for both designs.

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Hopefully I’ve given you a little mid week inspiration to look at your crafty stash to see how else it can be used and all being well, my next post won’t be as long a wait as this one!

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Hugs


Stamp Set Focus – Background Builders Classics

Hey!

I had planned on writing this blog post last night, but the motherhood exhaustion hit post Bean bedtime and I just chilled instead – sorry!

Anyway, this is one of those types of post that I keep meaning to do more of and then life/other work gets in the way. I had also envisioned I would use more of the stamps from the clear stamp set I am focusing on, but I kinda got hooked on just one of the stamps! Please tell me it’s not just me that has these problems 😉

For my first ‘Stamp Set Focus’, I wanted to use the recently released Background Builders Classics. I felt it needed a little more inky love.

For my first two cards I used the same layout (inspired by Jane’s Uniko DT post HERE). I used the horizontal stripe stamp from the set more as an accent, rather than to build a background too.

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For this first card I dusted off some older clear stamp sets. The large bold HAPPY is from All Occasion Sentiments #2 and it is so much fun to stamp it in a rainbow of colours! The flowers are from Flower Power #7 and the smaller script birthday is from Simply Said Birthday. I added a few Nuvo Drops to finish of my design.

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As I still had the horizontal stripe stamp positioned in my MISTI, I stamped up another to create my next card. This time combining it with a sentiment from the recently released Sentiments Outlined and accented with some blooms from Beautiful Blooms II.

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I love how quick this card was to make, just a little bit of simple stamping and masking for the blooms and a little dimension for the stamped panel.

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Next I switched up the orientation of my card and used another of my favourite techniques and paired the stamp with some other ‘older’ Uniko stamps.

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Using a stamping tool means your stamp is always in the same place for repeated stamping. This is handy for this technique, where I have used water  based markers to colour my stamp. I have done this technique quite a few times, like HERE.

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I used Stampin’ Up! markers in Calypso Coral, Lucky Limeade and Costal Cabana for a lovely tropical palette to go with images from Paradise and Paradise Leaves.

Lastly, I wanted to ‘build’ a background and this is the result…

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Having created a bold background I wanted to showcase it in a way not to take too much focus from it and it also needed a pop of colour.

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I used Stampin’ Up! dies to create the HAPPY, which I die cut each letter 3 times and adhered them together with glue. I wanted them to have some dimension but not too much to make the card bulky. Again I used the partially stamped sentiment, script birthday from Simply Said Birthday.

I hope I have inspired you a little and given you some new ideas and techniques to try out. I sure had fun using this one stamp!

Thanks 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


Uniko Challenge #54 – Flowers with an optional twist of Die Cuts

Hey!

Welcome to the July / August 2019 Uniko Challenge.

We’ve another lovely favourite theme of flowers for this new challenge, but if you’d like to challenge yourself a bit more then go with our twist of using die cuts.

We’re really delighted to have Amy as our Guest Designer for this challenge. Just look at this beautiful layered die cut floral. Such happy and pretty colours too. Be sure to hop on over to Amy’s blog for more details and leave a lovely comment.

This is such a wonderful time of year in the Northern Hemisphere to be inspired by the bounty of florals in the Summer gardens. I love flowers and I was excited to ink some older Uniko flowers that haven’t seen much ink recently and I also wanted to go with the ‘twist’ of the challenge too!

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As you can see I chose to ink up Flower Power #2 and use the coordinating dies. This is one of my favourite flowers from the Flower Power series to cluster in colourful blooms.

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I paired the flowers with leaves from Natures Treasures and also a NEW sentiment from the upcoming July 2019 Release 😉 You will see more of this sentiment on Monday on the blogs!

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I’ve used Gloss White Nuvo Drops for the flower centres and I have also added White Blizzard Nuvo Drops inside the lines of the sentiment.

The Uniko DT have also been busy and have created some awesome flowery cards to inspire you to join in and play along, so be sure to pop on by their blogs.

Are you ready to play?

Well, just 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 23rd August 2019 (7.00pm EDT).

Hugs,

 


Woohoo – Mid Century Modern Restocks!

Happy Hump Day!

My hump day has added cheer today, with some Mid Century Modern restocks that arrived in the studio late yesterday afternoon! So today I managed to squeeze in a little creative time and inked up two of my favourites from the April/May 2019 Release 😉

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Doesn’t it feel good to finally execute an idea you’ve had stored up in your head?! I’ve had this card layout idea using Mid Century Modern Florals for ages! I’ve used a trio of Altenew pink inks for the hash circle (Baby Pink, Fuchsia and Magenta). I’ve also used a trio of Altenew grey inks for the scalloped outline to the flowers (Grey Denim, Cloudy Night and Charcoal Suit).

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I’ve used one of the sentiments from Birthday Wishes and some Liquid Mercury Nuvo Drops to embellish the design – just still in LOVE with Nuvo Drops!

Next I HAD to ink up Background Blocks Mid Century Modern

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I still can’t quite believe how popular this stamp has been since I released it last month! If you were waiting for it to come back in stock before you ordered it, be quick as there are only a few left! I will be ordering more, but it’s going to be another couple of weeks before I get them.

Okay, for this card I was inspired by this weeks colours over at CAS Colours & Sketches seen HERE and below. Such yummy soft pastels and something a little more feminine for this stamp.

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I’ve used Altenew Volcano Lake instead of Pool Party, which the background is stamped in. I then used Gery Denim for the burst stamp from Mid Century Modern Florals or Kindness Blooms! I’ve trimmed the stamped panel on an angle and adhered it to my card base using foam adhesive.

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The HAPPY is the MFT Happy Birthday die and I have die cut it from a different white card to my card base, making it stand out a little more. The Birthday sentiment is from Simply Said Blocks and stamped in Altenew Baby Pink for Powder Pink. I’ve then finished the design with some Dandelion Yellow Nuvo Drops for the challenge third colour.

That’s all I had time to make today, hoping to find LOTS of creative time tomorrow as I am Bean free! I best get to packing a couple more orders tonight so I can 🙂

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs


Birthday Doodle Flowers

Happy Weekend!

This week I’ve been playing with more of the Uniko Background Blocks clear stamps and this time I was inspired to use Background Blocks Doodle Flower. If you missed my earlier Background Blocks inspiration post, you can see it HERE.

Anyway, back to todays card…

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As you can see I didn’t use the complete background! This is such a fun and versatile stamp, in that you can use it as a background, but you can also use the doodle flower elements by themselves.

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There are a couple of ways you could achieve this. Firstly, you could do what I did for my card and stamp the background block in Catherine Pooler Midnight ink, colour the flowers you want to use with Copic Markers & fussy cut them out.

Or, if you aren’t a fan of fussy cutting small flowers, you could mask off all but the flower you want, stamp & repeat the process to achieve the desired look.

I’ve paired the flowers with a sentiment from Birthday Sentiments clear stamp set & I added my favourite Dandelion Yellow Nuvo Drops to the flower centres and accents.

The layout of my card is from this weeks CAS Colours & Sketches HERE and seen below. It was so much fun to sit & play with my supplies and to join in on a challenge, it’s been a while 😉

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As I’ve created a birthday card & AAA Cards is celebrating their 5th Birthday over HERE, I’m going to join in on their challenge too!

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Don’t forget Uniko is one of the AAA Cards Birthday Sponsors & there is LOTS of ways to win!

Okay, that’s all I have to share with you today. I am off to the Spa with a couple of friends for the day / night 🙂 Another 40th Birthday treat! I hope you all have a wonderful day & have something nice planned too.

Until next time, thanks for stopping by!

Hugs


FUN Background Blocks Inspiration

Hey & Happy Monday!

I hope your week has started well. Like those in the USA, we have a holiday Monday here in the UK and typically it has been a pretty wet and windy day. Though perfect for lazy days snuggling on the sofa watching Pixar movies! It’s still quite a novelty here as The Beans are now interested and have the concentration to watch a movie that isn’t Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Toy Story 3 or Cars!

Anyway, I’m here this evening to share a trio of cards I have made recently using Background Blocks and the fun you can have with them and also how they can be used to make quick clean and simple cards.

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First I have this Zentangle inspired card using Background Blocks Wonky Stripes. Okay, so this card isn’t my usual CAS style as it has lots of added detail, but it did only use minimal supplies.

My card was inspired by one that popped up on my Instagram feed a while ago HERE. Amber has used a stencil & added Zentangle designs in-between the ink blended stripes.

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For this card I stamped the Background Blocks Wonky Stripes in VersaFine Onyx Black ink. After the ink was dry I used a black fine line pen to add Zentagle patterns inside each of the stripes. It seemed fitting to add a Birthday Sentiment from Simply Said Blocks as Uniko is celebrating with & sponsoring this fortnights challenge over HERE at AAA Cards.

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AAA Cards is celebrating their 5th Birthday & have a FUN birthday challenge, along with LOTS of other ways to win prizes from sponsors, including Uniko 🙂

For my next card I was inspired to use Background Blocks Scattered Polka Dots

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Like all of the background blocks, the scattered polka dots is a fun design to stamp in an ombre effect. Here I have used my recent purchase of the Altenew Gentleman’s Grey collection of inks. I used my MISTI stamping tool and simply inked up each colour starting from the top with the lightest shade, down to the bottom with the darkest shade.

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I decided to embellish the polka dot background with the largest bloom from Kindess Blooms stamped, coloured with Copic markers & fussy cut. I adhered it to my card base using foam adhesive and finished the card with the thank you sentiment from Simply Said Blocks II and some Liquid Mercury Nuvo Drops.

Lastly, I decided to give Background Blocks Horizontal Stripe some inky love…

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For this card I gave my newly acquired Catherine Pooler inks a test run! I used Suede Shoes for the horizontal stripes and Coral Cabana and Samba for the Wonderful Day flowers. The leaves, also from Wonderful Day are stamped in Grass Skirt.

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I’ve used WOW Opaque White EP for the flower details and some Gloss White Nuvo drops for the flower centres. The sentiment is also from Wonderful Day stamped in VersaFine Onyx Black.

I hope these cards have given you some inspiration as to how to use the Background Block stamps 🙂 I’d love to see what you create!

That’s all from me today, but I hope to find some creative time for more projects I have in my head that need to make it onto a card 🙂

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs