Birthday Celebrations Archives

26 Feb

Introducing…Framed Balloons

Hello & Happy Weekend!

Welcome to the final day of the 10th Birthday February 2022 Release product introductions. Be sure to check out the other introductions, you can find the links in the right hand side bar.

Today myself and the Uniko Brand Ambassadors have more creative inspiration to share as we introduce the final new clear stamp set, Framed – Balloons. This series of stamp sets is growing, are so fun and popular amongst the Uniko fans and customers.

The frames are great for making instant focal points and like you will see today there are SO many creative options.

All the products will be available for purchase tomorrow at 10am GMT, Sunday 28th February 2022.

Anyway, let’s take a look at Framed Balloons…

For my first card today I chose to use two of the smaller stamps from the set paired with the round balloon from Balloon Bash. It’s a nod to all my Animal Crossing lovers out there!

The confetti background was time consuming to stamp and colour, but I think it turned out pretty cool.

For my second card today I used the balloon frame and created another colourful card.

I simply stamped, coloured with Copic Markers, added the sentiment from the set and coloured the sentiment with a black fine liner. I then cut the frame out and adhered it to a white card base using foam adhesive.

That’s all I have to share using this stamp set today, but I know you are going to be WOWED by the Brand Ambassadors!

All of the products will be available to purchase on the website and we will have our traditional release day blog hop. I will also be going LIVE over on the Uniko Ltd Facebook Group sharing some release cards & chatting about the New Release.
Crafty Hugs

By uniko Birthday Celebrations, Blog Hop, Cards, Introducing, New Release 3 Comments Read more...

24 Feb

Introducing… BIG & BOLD You & Stencil Flower Power #7

Hello & Thursday!

Welcome to Day 2 of the 10th Birthday February 2022 Release product introductions. If you missed day 1 you can catch up HERE.

Today myself and the Uniko Brand Ambassadors have more creative inspiration to share as we introduce BIG & BOLD You & Stencil Flower Power #7.

The BIG & BOLD series of stamps has been slowly growing over the years and I am delighted it remains popular. There are lots of words coming to this series over the course of 2022, but today we see YOU being the focus. Personally I think this is a powerful word and great for encouragement cards and not just seasonal ones. I also think it pairs beautiful with the new Stencil – Flower Power #7 😉

All the products will be available for purchase at 10am GMT Sunday 28th February 2022.

Today I have three cards to share with you. First up is a card using BIG & BOLD You.

Who doesn’t love a clean and simple rainbow card? This was pretty quick to make and I didn’t use my stamping platform. I simply used a pencil and ruler to mark out where to stamp the ‘Just For’ sentiment. Then repeatedly stamped it using my current favourite Concord & 9th inks.

You must know by now I love fussy cutting! So I stamped and fussy cut the ‘you’ (sorry no dies, yet) and adhered it using foam adhesive. The stamp set comes with some small accent stamps, I love dots so I added those for a little something else.

Next I had a play with the Stencil – Flower Power #7

I’ve created this Flower Power stencil a little different from #1, #5 and #8 that have been released so far. This flower shape is a little more simple, but SO much fun. This time there are 3 sizes of the flower on the one stencil and you get the masks too, which I have used to create this first card.

I used temporary adhesive to secure each of the 3 sizes of flower onto my card base. I then ink blended my 3 favourite colours, Buttercup, Honeysuckle & Oceanside, to create this cheerful background. The card is finished with a sentiment from Everyday Sentiment and some Nuvo Gloss Drops in Ebony.

For my final card for today I used the Flower Power #7 stencil to create the opposite of this first card.

Along with the flowers on the stencil, I’ve included a trio of circles to use for the centres. I finished my card slightly different, mounting the panel onto a white card base and adding a different sentiment from Everyday Sentiments.

There is so much fun to be had with this stencil, just wait till you see what the Brand Ambassadors have created 😉

Thanks for stopping by today and be sure to pop back tomorrow for the next of the product introductions.
Crafty Hugs

By uniko Birthday Celebrations, Blog Hop, Cards, Floral, Introducing, New Release, Stencils Introducing, Uniko Stamps, Uniko Stencils 6 Comments Read more...

23 Feb

Introducing…Background Blocks Cogs, Background Blocks Splatters and Everyday Sentiments

Hello & Happy Hump Day!

Welcome to Day 1 of the 10th Birthday February 2022 Release product introductions. Myself and the Uniko Brand Ambassadors are here to cheer up your mid week with some fabulous creative inspiration.

Today we are introducing three new stamp sets that I am sure you will want to add to your Uniko collection, Background Blocks Cogs, Background Blocks Splatters and Everyday Sentiments.

I am delighted to be adding to this growing series of Background Blocks and especially ones that lend themselves to masculine makes. The addition of these sentiments open up so many options too. The ways the Brand Ambassadors have used these are genius and inspiring, so be sure to hop along with us. You can find the start of the hop HERE.

All the products will be available for purchase at 10am GMT Sunday 27th February 2022.

Okay, lets get to the good stuff!

My first card today uses Background Builders Cogs and I built my sentiment using Everyday Sentiments.

I started by stamping the cog block onto my Concord & 9th Mushroom card stock base in VersaFine Clair Nocturne ink. I then stamped it again onto white card and fussy cut a few of the cogs out.

The mix of sentiments are heat embossed embossed onto a strip of PTI Smokey Slate card and adhered using foam adhesive. I’ve then scattered the fussy cut cogs and added some Nuvo Drops in Gloss Ebony.

For my second card I used Background Blocks Splatter. I started by inking the background with a mix of Concord & 9th Sorbet and Honeysuckle.

I then accented my card with the two balloons from Balloon Bash and another sentiment from Everyday Sentiments. This time some White Blizzard Glitter Nuvo Drops to finish.

Next I wanted to show how both these ‘masculine’ orientated backgrounds can be feminised. So I created two matching cards, just switching out the background.

It’s been ages since I last inked up Beautiful Blooms III, so I chose this as my floral. I used the same Concord & 9th ink colours for both cards, Ballet Slipper, Sorbet & Honeysuckle for the flower. Sprout, Parsley, Clover & Evergreen for the backgrounds & foliage.

After fussy cutting the stamped floral I adhered it to my card using foam adhesive. I added then stamped the Thank You sentiment from Everyday Sentiments and a few enamel dots to finish.

I then repeated everything for this second card, though I did switch up the sentiment layout and enamel dot placement.

I can’t decide which I like best as they both turned out really pretty! That’s all from me today using these three products. I will be back tomorrow with more to share.

Crafty Hugs

By uniko Birthday Celebrations, Blog Hop, Cards, Introducing, Masculine, New Release Cogs, Intorducing 6 Comments Read more...

01 Feb

HAPPY February and HAPPY 10th Birthday Month Celebrations – Quest 1 The Linky Party

Hello, Happy Tuesday, Happy February

AND

HAPPY 10th Birthday Month Uniko!

This month is all about celebrating 10 years of Uniko and I’m excited for all of the fun we have planned. Part of our celebrations we have ten quests for you to complete. Each quest will give you the opportunity to win a prize. And if you complete all ten quests correctly there will one random draw special prize of a £100 eGift Code to spend in store.

Today sees the beginning of the first quest. Simply create a birthday card using Uniko products and share it using the linky at the bottom of THIS post over on the Uniko Blogspot Blog.

Need some inspiration? The Uniko Brand Ambassadors have you covered, so be sure to check it all out over in the post too!

I had grand plans of having a variety of birthday cards to share with you today, as to be honest it was hard deciding what Uniko products to showcase for this special occasion.

All of the clear stamps, designer dies and stencils I have designed over the years hold that something special. A reason for being and a connection to a memory. It felt like I was choosing a favourite child and neglecting the other!

So what did I choose?

Inspiration took over and this was the end result! A mix of geometrics, florals and current favourite sentiment! Originally Organic, Background Builders: Delightful Diamonds and Floral Vines.

What do you think?

Are you surprised by my choice of stamps?

I do hope you will join in on the fun. There is plenty of time to join in on this first quest. The deadline for submission is midnight (GMT) on Sunday 27th February 2022.

Quest 1 Prize – A Uniko Birthday Themed Product Bundle
Quest 1 RulesUse Uniko Products Only*.No back linking. Linked cards/projects must be new.Maximum Enteries 3 Per Person.
*If you don’t own any physical Uniko products you are welcome to use THESE FREE Uniko Digital images to create your card.

Crafty Hugs

By uniko Birthday Celebrations, Blog Hop, Cards, Challenge, Floral Uniko Stamps 6 Comments Read more...

14 May

May 2021 NEWS & Restocks!

Happy Friday!

It’s always a good day in The Studio when a bunch of restocks arrive 😊 and today is that day! A few of these clear stamp sets have been out of stock for a while – my apologies for that.

I feel like things are getting back to ‘normality’ and I am able to spend more of my day in The Studio now that The Beans are back at school, I finally have more time to start investing and restocking again. However, I am taking things slowly and at a speed I can manage, it’s just me here in The Studio! Plus I always want to bring you new stuff too!!

I’ve had a few emails about when Designer Dies will be restocked, so to hopefully answer some future emails I will post here! I will be restocking dies, but I don’t currently have a date as to when this will be, my apologies for this I know you love dies and it’s frustrating when they’re out of stock.

Uniko dies are manufactured in the US, so along with this factor and the pandemic, they are also a BIG investment for a small business like Uniko. With not attending any craft shows since October 2019, plus being closed to orders during lockdown in 2020 due to the pandemic, I have had to decide what to feed Uniko funds into and currently my decision is for restocking stamps, stencils and new releases of these products. I hope you understand my decision and believe me, it isn’t easy making them.

Anyway, lets have a look and see what clear stamp loveliness is lining the Uniko shelves again…

Background Blocks Graffiti Texture

Background Blocks Halftone

Background Builders Squared

Pure Florals Gerbera

I’m excited for these stamps to be back, a selection perfect for those masculine cards needed for Fathers’s Day and the Gerbera Daisy perfect for all those Summery cards!
I hope there is something back in stock that you’ve been waiting for. If you have emailed me about a particular restock, they’re on the list for the next batch in June.

Before I go today, it’s my BIRTHDAY and I’m 21 again – haha! So in celebration I have a discount code AND a selection of birthday products are on SALE.

Ok, it must be time for cake now! Have a lovely day and weekend 😊

Crafty Hugs

By uniko Birthday Celebrations 1 Comment Read more...

20 Mar

9th Birthday February 2021 Release in Review Brand Ambassador Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY!

Happy Weekend!

I couldn’t help but stretch our 9th Birthday February 2021 Release celebrations on for a little longer! Now the Uniko Brand Ambassadors have their goodies we can have one last party and showcase these new clear stamps and stencil with a Release in Review Brand Ambassador Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY!

Hopefully you have hopped on over from HERE where I have introduced the hop and shared a little info. So how about I share a few cards that I have made using some of the new clear stamps…

First up is this card using Background Builders Delightful Diamonds paired with the silhouette from Happy Days. Originally I had planned to stamp the diamonds direct onto my base card, but I was having an off day with my stamping and it went array. So instead I fussy cut them out and adhered them to my card base with double sided tape instead!

Once I had created this trellis design I wanted to use a silhouette image. I have a couple in stamp sets, Just Because and Happy Days. I chose the one from Happy Days, but you will notice on my card the silhouette is taller.

I decided to get creative and tried stamping it on top of the first to make it taller and it worked. I love it when some ideas I have come off first time! I have then fussy cut the silhouette out, adhered with foam adhesive and added a simple ‘Hello’ sentiment from Simply Said Blocks.

This lead onto my next card, another using Background Builders Delightful Diamonds and another card I had planned out in my head.

This time I wanted to create a band of diamonds across the top of my card. I selected the outline style diamonds to stamp so that I could add some colour.

I’ve finished the card off by layering with black and raspberry pink card and also with a sentiment from Floral Vines. Two very different looking cards using the same stamp set.

Lastly for today I have a card using the popular Floral Vines stamp set which is now back in stock, though be quick as the stock level has dropped since they arrived back in!

I decided to jump on the slimline card band waggon, though the initial trend might be not as hot as it was, I don’t know! The design would have easily fit on a standard size card, but I do love the extra white space.

Here I have simply stamped the main image from Floral Vines, coloured with alcohol markers and added the birthday sentiment from the set. A really quick and simple card.

That’s all I have to share today using the stamps, but be sure to hop on along the Brand Ambassadors blogs to be inspired and WOWed by all the creativity.

I hope you have enjoyed this release in review as much as I did. Don’t forget to comment to win & be sure to check out the winners post HERE from the 9th Birthday February 2021 Release celebrations as I am still waiting to hear from a few winners!!

Crafty Hugs

By uniko Birthday Celebrations, Blog Hop, Cards, Floral, New Release 0 Comments Read more...

23 Feb

February 2020 & 8th Birthday Reveal, Brand Ambassador Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY!

Hey & Happy Sunday!

Welcome to the February & 8th Birthday product reveal, blog hop & GIVEAWAY! Hopefully you have hopped on over from HERE where I have formally introduced all the products available for purchase at 9pm GMT.

I have a trio of cards to share with you today. First up a super CAS card using Happy Days.

I can see this little set being a ‘go to’ for quick cards. Here I started with a panel of white card as big as my card base. I drew a faint pencil line a few centimetres from the bottom, making sure to leave enough space for my sentiment.

I then inked the silhouette foliage in Limeade, Lime & Fresh Leaf Altenew inks and stamped onto my card. I made sure to stamp part of the stem under the line as I wanted to cut along the line and around the image. This is then popped up onto my card base using foam adhesive.

For my next card I used Happy Days again, but this time I had an idea to combine it with Organic Wishes.

My idea was to capture new fresh spring leaves amongst the winter foliage and I used the ‘Bloom & Grow’ sentiment from Spring Botanicals Tulip.

Another quick stamped and CAS card. This time I added the stamped panel to a lime green card base using foam adhesive & tied some linen thread around the bottom section to add a rustic touch.

Lastly for today & continuing the Spring garden theme I decided to ink up and colour Spring Botanicals Tulip.

I decided to stamp & emboss the tulips in white onto a panel of kraft card. I then coloured the tulips using Prismacolor Pencils. I find colouring on kraft really forgiving when you don’t want to spend a huge amount of time colouring!

I used a trio of red/pink for the flowers and a trio of green for the leaves & stem. I used a little bit of blending solution to achieve a nice smooth finish. I decided not to add a sentiment on the front of the card & will add one inside if I choose to send the card.

That’s all I have to share with you today, but I know my Brand Ambassadors have so much wonderful creativity to share with you too.

Be sure to comment on all the Brand Ambassador blogs for your chance to win the ENTIRE Release! You have until Midnight GMT Saturday 29th February 2020 to leave a comment. The winner will be announced Sunday 8th March 2020 along with all the other 8th Birthday Celebration Winners 😉

Thanks for stopping by today.

Crafty Hugs

By uniko Birthday Celebrations, Blog Hop, Cards, Floral, New Release 23 Comments Read more...

01 Feb

Uniko’s 8th Birthday Linky Party!

Hey!

This month Uniko turns EIGHT and we have a month full of celebrations in store, with a NEW release at the end of the month and LOTS of inspiration from myself and the Uniko Brand Ambassadors along the way.

Today we are kicking the celebrations off today with a linky party! It wouldn’t be a birthday celebration without a PARTY, right? And the Party starts over HERE on the Uniko blogspot blog.

Simply create a birthday card, any theme, any style and using any product you like and link it up via the linky below. You don’t have to have a blog to enter, you can link your card from your Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest or like with ALL Uniko Challenges you can email me your entry to add.

You don’t have to use Uniko products, but I’d LOVE to see you using your Uniko stash (including Uniko Digital Freebies via the link above or ones from Magazine Features) AND there is an extra opportunity to win a prize if you do 😉

Before I get to those, how about some creative birthday inspiration from me…

I’ve had this card idea in my head for a while and today seemed the perfect occasion to make it for. I used BIG & BOLD Wish clear stamps and Designer Dies BIG & BOLD Wish to stamp and cut the rainbow of 8 candles.

I used my usual go to Altenew inks for the rainbow of colours and I love how pretty they look lined up across the card. I’ve adhered the die cuts using 1mm thick foam adhesive.

Instead of a ‘happy birthday’ sentiment on the front I decided to use ‘Make a Wish’ from Birthday Sentiments clear stamp set. One because when you blow out candles the tradition is to make a wish.

But also because ten years ago I made a wish and the wish was to run my own stamping & paper craft business and here I am celebrating EIGHT years of my little business.

Thank you for making my wish come true and for keeping my wish alive. Now before I get all soppy, how about you check out the birthday inspiration from my awesome Brand Ambassadors. There might even be the odd sneak peek at some new stamps coming at the end of the month 😉

Need a little more incentive to join in on the fun? How about some prizes…

Main Winner Chosen By the DT – £25 eGift Certificate
Random Uniko Stamps Winner – In Stock Clear Stamp Set of Winners Choosing (any value)
Top 5 Chosen By DT – In Stock £5 Clear Stamp Set of Winners Choosing
Randomly Selected comment from the Design Team Hop In Stock £5 Clear Stamp Set of Winners Choosing

Thats a total of EIGHT chances to win!

Winners will be announced Sunday 8th March 2020 along with all the other 8th Birthday Celebration Winners 😉

ALSO… why not take advantage of this fabulous discount code too! The code celebrate8 is valid for the whole month of February 2020 and can be used on any order placed, even if you place multiple orders during the month!

Crafty Hugs

By uniko Birthday Celebrations, Blog Hop, Cards, Challenge 6 Comments Read more...

01 Feb

Uniko Sponsors “Less is More” 9th Birthday

Happy Weekend!

It’s birthday month for one of my favourite challenges, the wonderful “Less is More”. They are celebrating 9 years, so a massive Happy Birthday to them and a HUGE congratulations too.

Uniko is proud to be sponsoring them this month and today they kick off with a new challenge HERE. “Less” is the cue meaning tiny and few.

I also joined in as a Guest Designer and made a card for the challenge to hopefully inspire you!

I don’t think I have ever made a card that is as clean and simple as this one! With birthdays on the brain (keep reading to find out more), and also thinking about tiny stamps in the Uniko range, I remembered the tiny balloon in Balloon Bash clear stamp set.

I then thought about all the sentiment sets and most of the Uniko sentiments bar a few are quite small. I had this layout idea in my head, so I wanted small over tiny. I opted for this one from Birthday Sentiments clear stamp set.

Don’t those tiny balloons look cute? I added the strings with a fine liner. The colours of ink are my usual go to Altenew inks and the sentiment stamped in VersaFine Onyx Black.

That’s all I have to share with you for the “Less is More” challenge, but be sure to pop back again soon & over HERE as February is Uniko’s 8th Birthday month and we have a month full of celebrations, challenges, competitions and a NEW Release!

I look forward to seeing you in the “Less is More” gallery and hope you will join in on the fun at Uniko too 😉

Crafty Hugs

By uniko Birthday Celebrations, Cards, Challenge 5 Comments Read more...

10 Feb

Introducing… Background Blocks Pinstripe & You Are, Yes You

Hey!

Welcome to the LAST day of our 7th Birthday & February 2019 Release product introductions. The last four days have been so fun and colourful. If you have missed any of them you can catch up HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.

I’m back again today with my guest designer and the design team to show you LOTS of inspiration! This time we are introducing a new Background Blocks Pinstripe & Yes, You clear stamps. Hopefully you have hopped on over from the start HERE where I have introduced these 2 new products a little.

How about a closer look at the cards I have made using them…

This first card shows the pinstripe background perfectly! I’ve stamped it in Altenew Pink Diamond ink a couple of times using my stamping tool. The flower from You Are, Yes You is then stamped directly over the top in VersaFine Onyx Black ink and coloured with one colour of Prismacolor pencil. I added one of the leaves from the same set and a sentiment from Simply Said. Again finishing the design with Nuvo Drops 😉

The colours for the card were again inspired by this weeks CAS Colours & Sketches challenge seen HERE and below. I rather like this colour combo, as I am quite a sucker for Grey!

For my next card I decided to use the flowers & leaves from You Are, Yes You to embellish the corners of a die cut sentiment window frame.

The sentiment is from Birthday Wishes, which was introduced on Day 2 and it fits perfectly inside the Papertrey Ink Mat Stack 4. The flowers and leaves are coloured with Stampin’ Up! stamping blends, fussy cut out and adhered to the card with double sided tape.

Lastly, I wanted to try my hand at stamping a wreath using a self made wreath builder template and one of the leaves from You Are, Yes You…

Oh my! This was so much fun to do! I stamped and masked the leaf as I went round to create a lovely leaf wreath. The sentiment is from You Are, Yes You and I stamped, fussy cut and coloured the flower from the set to add to where the wreath began and ended to make it look neat.

That’s all I have to share today using these products, but I know Ruth our Guest Designer this month along with the Design Team have SO much more to share with you.

Hop on by to see what Ruth has created HERE and this is the order of the hop following Ruth…

Also, don’t forget the enter the HUGE giveaway over HERE to WIN Stamps For A Year! If you need help entering the giveaway as you don’t have a blog or social media to link, send me an email and I will assist you 🙂

Thanks so much for stopping by & joining in on the 7th Birthday February Release fun 🙂

Hugs

By uniko Birthday Celebrations, Blog Hop, Cards, Floral, Introducing, New Release Background Blocks, Birthday, Card, Challenge, Clear Stamps, Florals, Flowers, Handmade, Happy Birthday, Leaves, New Release, Stamping, Uniko, Uniko Ltd, Uniko Stamps 14 Comments Read more...