Background Blocks Archives - Page 2 of 6 - Clear Stamps Sets for Cardmaking & Paper Crafts

29 Jul

Current BEST Seller!

Hello & Happy Monday!

Thank you to everyone who has made the July 2019 Release a fabulous one, thank you for all your awesome orders and comments over the weekend. All orders that were placed have been shipped today 🙂 there is one happy small business owner in the studio this evening – THANK YOU!

As I was busy packing orders over the weekend I was amazed at how many people were still ordering this little stamp from the May 2019 Release, Background Blocks Mid Century Modern…

So it got me looking at the stats on the website and this little stamp has been the best seller for THREE months! I never thought such a little design would prove to be so popular. It makes me happy that it does as it is a fave of mine too 😉

This in turn inspired me to ink it up again…

The layout for this card was inspired by the current sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches seen HERE and below, plus a mix of supplies I had already stamped on my desk!

I partially inked up the Background Block Mid Century Modern stamp with Altenew Gray Denim ink. I then stamped the new ‘Have a Perfect Day’ sentiment from Sentiments Outlined and to make it stand out a little more I decided to fill in the sentiment with a black fine liner.

To finish the design I arranged a cluster of tropical flowers and foliage from Paradise and Paradise Leaves. It turned out a little more ‘busy’ than I had planned in my head, but I still like the end result.

Lastly for today I have a super CAS card using this background…

The layout of this card is from the current sketch over at CAS Colours & Sketches seen HERE and below and I love how I unexpectedly made a more masculine card to show the versatility of this fun background.

I’ve used minimal supplies for this card, VersaFine Onyx Black ink to stamp the background. VersaMark & WOW Opaque White EP to stamp the mixed sentiment from Simply Said and the recently released WILD clear stamp sets. And to finish the design I added some Liquid Mercury Nuvo Drops to three of the dots in the pattern.

That’s all I have to share with you today and I hope you have enjoyed this little snippet of knowledge and inspiration about and using this little background stamp. I will be back tomorrow with some more cards using the NEW RELEASE, but if you’ve not checked out the Release Blog Hop, be sure to hop on by HERE to the start.

Until tomorrow, thank you for stopping by.

Hugs

By uniko Cards, Challenge, Masculine Background Blocks, Card, Challenge, Clear Stamps, Handmade, Masculine, New Release, Stamping, Uniko, Uniko Ltd, Uniko Stamps 6 Comments Read more...

26 Jul

July 2019 Reveal, Design Team Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY!

Hey!

What an awesome week with so much creative inspiration. I hope you have all enjoyed it as much as me and now finally the day has arrived and the July 2019 Reveal, Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY is here! The Release will be available to purchase HERE at a NEW time of 9pm GMT tonight.

Hopefully you have started over HERE on the Uniko blogspot blog for the reveal of all the July 2019 Release products and then you have hopped on over from our fabulous Guest Designer this month Keren’s blog HERE. Haven’t Keren’s creations been amazing, with so many creative ideas and techniques. I for one have been inspired.

Okay, so I’m a little late (again) with my post today. I found working in the heat *so* hard yesterday and it just drained me off everything. Anyway, I managed to finish up my cards this morning and now I have them ready to share with you. Hopefully they won’t disappoint!

I’ve been on a rainbow kick recently and I had to apply it to the Background Blocks Nautical Stripes. I also wanted to show you how the background block can be used for other occasions, not just nautical styles.

I positioned the background block into my small MISTI, masking, inking and stamping each of the colours. It was a fairly lengthy process to apply each individual colour, but the result is so pretty. I used Altenew inks for the colours and I used the Lawn Fawn stamp shammy to clean the stamp between colours without removing it from my MISTI.

I added the ‘Have a Perfect Day’ sentiment from Sentiments Outlined and a tropical cluster of images from Paradise. To finish the design and add a little sparkle, I applied White Blizzard Nuvo Drops to the inside of the sentiment.

Still on my rainbow kick I used some of the same colours and my TE Blender Brushes to create an ink blended background for the Large Background Tropical Paradise…

I absolutely love how this turned out! The colours really make the tropical background pop. I didn’t want to take too much focus from the colours and the background, so I added a simple sentiment of ‘Celebrate’ which is partially stamped from Sentiments Outlined. It really makes you feel as though you are getting value for money when you can easily change up sentiments with ease.

Lastly for today I have one more card that had been whirling around my head! I had intended it to be rainbow colours too, but a more muted colour scheme happened instead!

I thought the ‘Celebrate In Style’ sentiment would be perfect to pair with Background Blocks Mid Century Modern and I was right, it looks so cool!

I stamped the sentiment first and then filled in the space around with the background block. With its open style, it is fairly easy to position and stamp to achieve the look of an all over pattern. I used Altenew Cloudy Night for the pattern and added Stampin’ Up! Balmy Blue for the card base & inside the sentiment. Some Altenew enamel dots were the perfect shade of blue to add to some of the dots in the design.

Okay, that’s all from me today, but as usual we have our traditional Design Team Blog Hop & Giveaway. To be in the chance of winning The ENTIRE July 2019 Release! (5 clear stamp sets, 1 previously released clear stamp sets and 5 stencil designs).

Simply comment along the blog hop, it’s as easy as that! You have until Midnight 3rd August 2019. Winner will be announced a few days after.

Happy Hopping!

Bev (that’s me)

Hugs

By uniko Blog Hop, Cards, New Release Background Blocks, Background Builders, Card, Clear Stamps, Colours, Handmade, Nautical, New Release, Paradise, Stamping, Stripes, Tropical Paradise, Uniko, Uniko Ltd, Uniko Stamps, Uniko Stencils 19 Comments Read more...

24 Jul

Re-introducing Nautical Treasures AND Introducing Background Blocks Nautical Stripes, Anchors & Fleur De Lis Stencils

Hey!

Welcome to Day 3 of the July 2019 Release product introductions.

Hopefully you have hopped on over from our lovely Guest Designer Keren’s blog HERE. If you missed the start of the hop and introduction to todays products, you can catch up HERE.

Today we are re-introducing a previously released and retired clear stamp set, Nautical Treasures. Plus, I have designed some new products to go perfectly with it! Introducing the newest Background Block, Nautical Stripes and 2 new stencil designs, Anchors and Fleur De Lis.

Today I have a couple of clean & simple nautical inspired cards to share with you. First up I have one pairing the new Background Block Nautical Stripes with the sail boat from the previously released and retired Nautical Treasures.

This card was really quick to make. I stamped the Background Blocks Nautical Stripes in Altenew Desert Night ink. I always use my MISTI for this, so I can repeat stamp for a perfect impression, especially with the more solid stripes in the design.

The sail boat is stamped in Catherine Pooler Midnight ink, fussy cut out and I added a stencilled anchor to the sail. The sentiment is from Nautical Treasures.

Lastly for today I have this quick and easy card…

This time I decided to use the thick stripe from Background Builders Classics, which we introduced on Monday. Again I used Altenew Desert Night ink and my MISTI to stamp. I then stencilled one anchor to strip of white card & tied through some bakers twine. The sentiment is from Simply Said.

Unfortunately that is all I have to share with you today, my mojo was exhausted with the recent heat here 🙁

However, my AWESOME Design Team and wonderful Guest Designer this month, Keren Baker have worked their magic with today’s products, so be sure to hop along & see them…

Bev (that’s me)

WOW!

That was a phenomenal inspirational hop, so many creative designs and lovely to see fresh inky creativeness with Nautical Treasures too!

I hope you enjoyed it and you will join us again tomorrow for another product introduction and LOTS more inspiration 🙂

Hugs

By uniko Blog Hop, Cards, Design Team Inspiration, Introducing, Masculine, New Release Anchor, Background Blocks, Card, Clear Stamps, Handmade, Masculine, Nautical, Nautical Treasures, New Release, Stamping, Uniko, Uniko Ltd, Uniko Stamps, Uniko Stencils 4 Comments Read more...

07 Jun

Uniko Sponsors “Less is More”

Happy Weekend!

I hope your weekend has begun well and you have some creative time planned 🙂 If you need a little inspiration, why not join in on the new challenge over at “Less is More”.

This fortnight I am super happy to let you know that Uniko is the sponsor for the challenge. You could win an in stock clear stamp set (any value) from the Uniko website – how good does that sound?

The challenge this fortnight is a colour challenge seen HERE and below. A lovely soft colour palette of Duck Egg Blue, Plum & White.

And here’s how I used the colours…

For my card I used the Large Background French Script. In hindsight, even though I’ve stamped it in Altenew Sea Glass ink (my closest match to a Duck Egg Blue), which is a really light and soft blue, I wished I hadn’t inked the stamp for a complete solid stamp as overall my card isn’t as ‘CAS’ as I would have liked!

To keep the design more ‘CAS’ with more open white space I should have applied the ink in a more haphazard way, to achieve a rustic/faded look.

For the floral/foliage silhouette I used the main image from Just Because clear stamp set. I used Altenew Deep Iris for the plum colour in the challenge. I’ve stamped the image 3 times, varying the angle and how much of the stamp would be visible to create a panel of the design along the left hand side.

My chosen sentiment is With Sympathy from Simply Said Blocks II, as sadly I need a few sympathy cards to send out. The stamps I have used and the colour palette works beautifully for this theme of card.

Okay, that’s all I have to share with you just now. Myself & the Uniko DT will be back later this morning for this months Design Team Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY!

Until then, thanks for stopping by & I look forward to seeing you in the LIM Challenge Gallery!

Hugs

By uniko Cards, Challenge, Floral, Guest Designer Background Blocks, Card, Challenge, Clear Stamps, Colours, Florals, Handmade, Just Because, Less is More, Stamping, Uniko, Uniko Ltd, Uniko Sponsor, Uniko Stamps, With Sympathy 0 Comments Read more...

05 Jun

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 😉

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).

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…

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.

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.

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

By uniko Cards, Challenge, Floral, New Release Background Blocks, Birthday, Card, CAS. Colours and Sketches, Challenge, Clear Stamps, Colours, Florals, Handmade, Happy Birthday, Mid Century Modern, New Release, Uniko, Uniko Ltd, Uniko Stamps 3 Comments Read more...

01 Jun

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…

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.

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 😉

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!

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

By uniko Cards, Challenge, Floral Background Blocks, Birthday, Card, Challenge, Clear Stamps, Doodle Flower, Florals, Flowers, Handmade, Happy Birthday, Sketch, Stamping, Uniko, Uniko Ltd, Uniko Stamps 6 Comments Read more...

31 May

Uniko Challenge Reminder #53 – Anything Goes + Optional Twist Masculine

Hey!

I’m here today along with our Guest Designer and Design Team to remind you about the May/June 2019 Uniko challenge.

We have an Anything Goes theme at the moment, but with Father’s Day here in the UK coming up in June we’ve also added in the optional twist of Masculine just in case.

Challenge Guidelines:

* You can use any products/stamps to enter the challenge, but we do LOVE to see you use your Uniko products. Plus, there is an extra chance to win a prize if you do 😉

* Email entries welcome, just email a photo of your card to bev@uniko.co.uk and I will add it to the Uniko Flickr gallery and link up!

* Share the challenge graphic in your post and link back to the challenge if possible 😉

We have Radhika joining us again as our Guest Designer. She has created another fabulous masculine card to inspire you.

How fun & quirky is this masculine card? Be sure to head on over to Radhika’s blog & leave some love 🙂

I made time for some creativity yesterday in the studio 🙂 It’s been a hectic month with so much going on and to keep up with, that I feel I’ve missed making cards for the fun of it.

Anyway, this is one of the cards I made…

With Father’s Day fast approaching I thought I had better make another card! Explosion! Additions is an awesome clear stamp set for making masculine cards. The fun halftone explosions look FAB stamped in bright colours & I’ve accented the large ones with some smaller explosions stamped in shades of Grey.

I used Catherine Pooler inks for the large halftone explosions in Suede Shoes, Rockin’ Red & Limoncello, such clean, bright & crisp stamped images. Plus I didn’t even use my MISTI, these came out perfect using an acrylic block. I used Altenew Gentleman’s Grey collection for the smaller explosions.

USC#532a

The die cut DAD was an ‘ah ha’ idea I had using the MFT Happy Birthday die I bought at Happy Stampers Festival. Though I’ve not used it as ‘happy birthday’ on a card yet, I was thinking what other words I could make from it and this was one of the results – haha!

I’ve layered the white die cut letters which I have partially stamped with the Background Block Halftone, with some black die cut letters to make them stand out a little better from the background.

Now, if you need a little more incentive to join in on the challenge, here are the prizes up for grabs…

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 month’s challenge. The deadline for submission is midnight (GMT) on Friday 19th April 2019 (7.00pm EDT).

I look forward to seeing you in the gallery HERE and be sure to check out the Design Team inspiration.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Hugs

By uniko Cards, Challenge, Masculine, Uniko Challenge Background Blocks, Card, Challenge, Clear Stamps, Dad, Explosion, Explosion Additions, Fathers Day, Halftone, Handmade, Masculine, Stamping, Uniko, Uniko Challenge, Uniko Ltd, Uniko Stamps 1 Comment Read more...

27 May

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.

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.

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.

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…

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.

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…

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.

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

By uniko Cards, Challenge Background Blocks, Birthday, Card, Challenge, Clear Stamps, Florals, Handmade, Happy Birthday, Horizontal Stripes, Polka Dots, Uniko, Uniko Ltd, Uniko Sponsor, Uniko Stamps, Wonderful Day, Wonky Stripes 3 Comments Read more...

16 May

Uniko Challenge #53 – Anything Goes + Optional Twist Masculine

Hey!

Welcome to the May/June 2019 Uniko Challenge.

We’ve that great 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 Masculine.

This month we have another wonderful Guest Designer for this challenge, Radhika. How super cool is her card! And what a fabulous idea for a masculine card.

As usual the Uniko DT have awesome inspiration to share with you too. Be sure to check out the post HERE with all the links to their blogs AND the prize info and link up for the challenge at the end of the post.

I also got my creative on and made a card for the challenge…

Background Blocks Graffiti Texture was a firm favourite (along with all of the Uniko Background Blocks clear stamps) at Happy Stampers Festival this past weekend. I was inspired by this to give it some fresh inky love and more so when I saw this weeks CAS(E) this Sketch! seen HERE and below. The sketch is pretty perfect for using a background block!

For this card I did mask off a smaller rectangle as I wanted my chosen sentiment to sit nicely across the top without too much white either side. I used my small MISTI to stamp the Background Blocks Graffiti Texture, which was inked using Distress Inks. As you can see I also opted to use the ‘twist’ of this challenge.

A super quick CAS card for Father’s Day, which isn’t too far away here in the UK. That’s all I have to share with you today, but I will be back tomorrow with LOTS of winners to announce!

Until then, thank you for stopping by & I hope you find some inspiration and creativity to join in on the challenge 🙂

Hugs

By uniko Challenge, Masculine, Uniko Challenge Background Blocks, Card, Challenge, Clear Stamps, Fathers Day, Graffiti Texture, Handmade, Sketch, Stamping, Uniko, Uniko Ltd, Uniko Stamps 5 Comments Read more...

05 May

April / May 2019 Reveal, Design Team Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY!

Hey!

Finally the day has arrived and the April / May 2019 Reveal, Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY is here! The Release will be available to purchase HERE at a NEW time of 9pm GMT tonight.

Hopefully you have hopped on over from HERE, where I have formally introduced the 4 new Clear Stamp Set designs, 2 coordinating Designer Die collections AND 1 Stencil Design being released.

I’ve made a couple more cards using the new products, not as many as I had hoped to make, but I do feel I am getting back into the creative groove again…

My first card uses the Designer Dies English Country Garden Butterflies. I’ve been wanting to pair the butterfly with the Large French Script Background for ages and it seemed the perfect time now I had the dies to match. They give such a love clean cut edge compared to fussy cutting!

I still have a thing for shades of grey! Hence my colour scheme, though I did add in a little hint of aqua for the butterfly body and some Nuvo Drop detail. The Happy Birthday sentiment is from Birthday Sentiments, which is now back in stock.

My last card today was inspired by a couple of things. Firstly the Double Challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches seen HERE and below.

And secondly by Jenny’s card HERE our Guest Designer for this release. I just loved how Jenny thought to cut up the Background Block Mid Century Modern II. So I did the same, this time using it for the top and bottom border in the sketch.

I simply stamped the Background Block Mid Century Modern II in black and coloured the outline sections with the closest colours to the challenge as I had. I then got to fussy cutting the sections out and adhered them to my card base using some new Gina K Connect Glue – LOVE! Thanks for the recommendation Lynda 😉

The sentiment is another from Birthday Sentiments and I’ve accented it with a flower from Mid Century Modern Florals and some of my favourite Gloss White Nuvo Drops!

That’s all from me today, but as usual we have our traditional Design Team Blog Hop & Giveaway. To be in the chance of winning The ENTIRE April / May 2019 Release! (4 clear stamp sets, 2 previously released clear stamp sets, 2 co-ordinating designer die collections & 1 stencil design).

Simply comment along the blog hop, it’s as easy as that! You have until Midnight Sunday 12th May 2019. Winner will be announced a few days after.

Happy Hopping!