Posts tagged “Beautiful Blooms”

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


June 2018 Design Team Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY!

Hey!

It’s time for another Uniko Design Team Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY – Whoohoo!! For those of you who are new around these parts I will explain what this post is all about…

Here at Uniko HQ it is just myself behind the screen, blogging, designing, packaging stamps & orders through the Uniko online shop, customer service and all the things in between. I *usually* release new product every other month for a number of reasons, but mainly so I can keep up with everything!

On non – release months like this month I like to set myself and the Design Team a challenge to look back at a previously released product and give it some more love.

Usually I choose just one product that was released the previous year or a once favourite that hasn’t seen much air time. However, this time I couldn’t choose between the clear stamps in the Beautiful Blooms range, so I challenged the Uniko DT to use all 3 OR their favourite!

Beautiful Blooms I Clear Stamp Set

Beautiful Blooms I Designer Dies

Beautiful Blooms I can be bought as a clear stamp set and designer die bundle HERE.

Beautiful Blooms II

Beautiful Blooms III

My thinking / reasoning of designing the Beautiful Blooms series was to have some modern blooms that didn’t necessarily reflect a particular flower. They are open for interpretation as to what YOU the stamper believes the flower to represent. I feel this allows for more creativity and individuality to stampers projects.

Now I had to be fair, so I made one card using each of the clear stamps…

First up is Beautiful Blooms I and I decided to use both the clear stamps and matching designer dies. My card is heavily inspired by some of  Jennifer McGuire’s recent makes.

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I started by die cutting the largest bloom, largest stem and 2 small leaves from a piece of white card. I then temporarily adhered it to my card base whilst I stamped the coordinating images to the die cuts. I used my MISTI tool to stamp too.

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I used Altenew inks to stamp and the sentiment is from Simply Said Blocks II. Once I had completed all my stamping the die cut panel was adhered using foam adhesive.

Next, I decided to have a play with Beautiful Blooms II and created a super CAS card…

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I started by stamping the outline blooms in Altenew inks, then I ‘off stamped’ the bloom centre details before stamping inside the outline, as I wanted a fairly light shade to the blooms. I then used Lawn Fawn rectangle dies to die cut the layer before adding my sentiment from Just Because. The pane is adhered to a Stampin’ Up! Grey Granite card base using foam adhesive.

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Lastly, I dusted off Beautiful Blooms III to create a similar style card to my CC&S card last week HERE.

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I used my MISTI tool again for this card, because there is quite a bit of masking and layering of stamps. I used Altenew inks again, as they really do take the hard work out of choosing colours to layer! I tried to show a few of the different layering options with the blooms on this card too.

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That’s all from me, but lets see how the design team have been inspired to use the products and be sure to comment along the hop for your chance to win your choice from the 3 clear stamp sets being featured. You have until Midnight (GMT) Monday 18th June 2018 to comment.

 Hugs

Have You Joined In?

Hey & Happy Friday!

I’m here today with the Design Team and our Guest Designer to remind you that there is still time to join in on this month’s Uniko challenge. Here in the northern hemisphere the season is changing and Autumn (Fall) is approaching. So, it seemed appropriate to make it this months inspiration.

Don’t you just love the glorious Autumn/Fall colours? What could be more inspiring than their beauty? So we would love to see all your wonderful autumnal creations popping up in our gallery. And if you’d like to twist with us and add Halloween into your creativity that would be fabulous too!

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 😉

This month we have been lucky enough to have the awesome Vijaylaxmi joining us as a Guest Designer. Go visit her amazing blog and be totally inspired. She’s created a wonderful inspiration card for you using Uniko stamps. Love the warm glow she’s achieved.

The Uniko Design Team also have some autumnal inspiration to share, be sure to follow the links to their blogs, which you can find over HERE and also the link up to the challenge.

How about some inspiration from me…

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{Click Photo for a Closer Look}

I made this card at the same time as my first Uniko Challenge #43 card, as I already had the ombré stripes stamped and I was loving the Beautiful Blooms III stamped in these Autumn colours 😉

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{Click Photo for a Closer Look}

I used my Altenew inks for all my stamping and I can’t wait to get my hands on some more at Stamp Magic in Doncaster on Sunday (hopefully)! They really do ink nicely AND they take the hard work out of matching shades for layered stamping.

I’ve added some dimension with the flowers using two depths of foam adhesive and added some clear Wink Of Stella to just the detail on the blooms. The sentiment is from the recently released Simply Said Blocks and I added some White Blizzard Nuvo Glitter Drops.

So are you all fired up and ready to get crafting?

Well, just in case you need some more incentive to play along with the challenge here are the details of the prizes.  I have changed the length and frequency of the challenge. The challenges are FIVE weeks long, giving us a total of SIX challenges this year.

THE PRIZES

  • Main Winner Chosen By the DT – £25 eGift Certificate
  • Random Twist Winner – £4 In Stock Clear Stamp Set of Winners Choosing
  • Random Uniko Stamps Winner – £4 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 27th October 2017 (7.00pm EDT).

Hugs

Uniko Challenge #43 Autumn

Hey!

Welcome to this month’s Uniko challenge. Here in the northern hemisphere the season is changing and Autumn (Fall) is approaching. So, it seemed appropriate to make it this months inspiration.

Don’t you just love the glorious Autumn/Fall colours? What could be more inspiring than their beauty? So we would love to see all your wonderful autumnal creations popping up in our gallery. And if you’d like to twist with us and add Halloween into your creativity that would be fabulous too!

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 😉

 

This month we have the winner of Challenge #43 the superbly talented Vijaylaxmi joining us as our Guest Designer.

Here’s her amazing card:

 Brilliant isn’t it? Be sure to pop on over to her blog HERE and leave her some love.

The Uniko Design Team also have some autumnal inspiration to share, be sure to follow the links to their blogs, which you can find over HERE and also the link up to the challenge.

How about some inspiration from me…

{Click Photo for a Closer Look}

With restocks arriving in the studio this week and because I saw this jaw dropping creation by Hannelie HERE using Beautiful Blooms III, I was inspired to dust my set off and give it some fresh inky love!

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{Click Photo for a Closer Look}

 

I used my Altenew inks for all my stamping and I can’t wait to get my hands on some more at Happy Stampers Festival (hopefully)! They really do ink nicely AND they take the hard work out of matching shades for layered stamping.

I’ve added some dimension with the flowers using two depths of foam adhesive and added some clear Wink Of Stella to just the detail on the blooms. The sentiment is from the recently released Simply Said Blocks and I added some White Blizzard Nuvo Glitter Drops.

So are you all fired up and ready to get crafting?

Well, just in case you need some more incentive to play along with the challenge here are the details of the prizes.  I have changed the length and frequency of the challenge. The challenges are FIVE weeks long, giving us a total of SIX challenges this year.

THE PRIZES

  • Main Winner Chosen By the DT – £25 eGift Certificate
  • Random Twist Winner – £4 In Stock Clear Stamp Set of Winners Choosing
  • Random Uniko Stamps Winner – £4 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 27th October 2017 (7.00pm EDT).

Hugs

Uniko Challenge #42

Hey!

Welcome to the July/August 2017 Uniko challenge. I have changed the frequency and length of the challenges this year to hopefully give you a little more time to join in on the fun.

So this month we have the following challenge…

 This should be a really easy and popular theme and we’re so looking forward to seeing all your wonderful cards popping up in the gallery.

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 😉

This month we have two Guest Designers – Cornelia the winner of Challenge #40 and Elaine the winner of Challenge #41. Both awesomely talented ladies who we are proud to have joining us for this new challenge.

Here’s Cornelia’s amazing card:

Fabulous isn’t it? Be sure to pop on over to her blog HERE and leave her some love.

And here’s Elaine’s superb card:

 So gorgeous! You’ll be wanting to pop over to her blog HERE to leave her some love too.

This is what I came up with…

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{Click Photo For a Closer Look}

 

I’d not used Beautiful Blooms II for a while, so I decided to ink the flowers & leaves up from that set, using some summery Altenew ink colours. I used all three of the flowers contained in the set for my little bouquet. When I had stamped & fussy cut the flowers and laid them onto my card I decided they needed a little ‘backdrop’ to sit against. So I reached for the recently restocked and popular Background Blocks Horizontal Stripe, using it as a vertical stripe instead across my landscape card. The sentiment is from Happy Succulents (also NOW back in stock) and I added more interest by stamping the ‘birthday’ part on a small strip of white card and adhering with foam adhesive. A trio of Stampin’ Up! enamel dots finished it off nicely!

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{Click Photo For a Closer Look}

That’s all from me, I hope I have inspired you to join in?! If you need a little more inspiration please hop on over HERE to see what the Design Team have created.

AND just in case you need some more incentive to play along with the challenge here are the details of the prizes. As I said at the beginning of the post, I have changed the length and frequency of the challenge. The challenges are FIVE weeks long, giving us a total of SIX challenges this year.

THE PRIZES

  • Main Winner Chosen By the DT – £25 eGift Certificate
  • Random Uniko Stamps Winner – £4 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 25th August 2017 (7.00pm EDT).

Hugs

January 2017 Design Team Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY!

Hey & Happy New Year!

It’s the 11th of the month, which means as it is not a release month (sorry, I promise it’ll be worth the wait till next month) the Design Team and I are here today with the usual Design Team Blog Hop and GIVEAWAY!

This month we have decided to dust off and revisit the previously released Beautiful Blooms I clear stamp set AND matching Designer Dies.

This clear stamp set was released way back in June 2013 but is still a firm favourite of mine and many 😉 The set also has a Pinterest page HERE, in which you can find lots of inspiration using it.

Here’s what I have created to share with you today…

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If you saw my CAS Colours & Sketches card HERE yesterday, you will have read me talking about the Heidi Swapp Minc Reactive Mist and how I wanted to try a finer spray compared to the splatter effect I got on my first card. Well, I gave it a go with a Mini Mister.

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Again, I foiled the mist with the Rose Gold foil. The layout of my card is inspired by the soon to be ending CAS(E) this Sketch! sketch seen HERE and below.

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I used the MISTI to stamp the large die cut bloom and leaves. I wish that I had chosen a white card base to mount the foiled panel and bold black bloom. The beauty of hindsight and trying things before I adhere them permanently! Anyway, what is done is done and I need quite a few thank you cards to send post Christmas so I am sure I may make more 😉

I was hoping to have another card to share, but my mojo just wasn’t letting me. Every idea I had just wasn’t coming out right 🙁 I think tiredness had started to kick in, with all the early mornings with the beans and late nights working are starting to take their toll a little. Roll on Thursday afternoon for a few hours bean free 😉

Anyway, how about some more inspiration using this set AND don’t forget to comment along the Design Team blogs to be in the chance of winning BOTH the Beautiful Blooms I clear stamp set and the matching Designer Dies. Or a Gift Certificate to the same value if you already own them. You have until Midnight GMT Friday 20th january to get your comments in.

CLICK HERE to see more from Deborah

CLICK HERE to see more from Jane

CLICK HERE to see more from Rahmat

CLICK HERE to see more from Sarah G

CLICK HERE to see more from Sarah P

Thank you for stopping by and hopping along with us today.

Hugs

A Look Back At 2016!

Hey & Happy Boxing Day!

I do hope you all had a wonderful Christmas Day, I think this year has to of been one of the best for us as a family of four 🙂 Seeing the beans faces as they walked into the front room with all the new toys and train set laid out was a picture. Plus, I just loved every minute watching them play together learning their new toys and then pulling daddy down to the floor to help and play. It truly melted my heart.

Here are a couple of photos from Christmas morning, apologies for my bed head!

Me and Ben the bookworm, checking out the new Peppa Pig books!

Josh admiring the train set

Josh getting stuck in with all the toys!

Anyway, back to the title of this blog post… A Look Back At 2016! This year has been an amazing year for myself personally, but it has been a fantastic year for Uniko. We have had 5 fabulous releases, with 16 new clear stamps sets lining the Uniko HQ shelves.
I don’t know about you, but to me this year has almost passed by in a blur! With that in mind I thought it would be nice now the main seasonal festivities are over and as 2016 draws to a close, to take a look back at Uniko’s 2016.
Today, I am looking back at the 2016 February Release. This was Uniko’s 4th Birthday celebration and I launched 4 clear stamp sets, Beautiful Blooms IIII Love TeaSome Bunny and Simply Said. So, I dusted the sets off and got to work with the help of my Christmas present from Santa, the MISTI and made a few new cards to share with you…

First up is a card using Beautiful Blooms III, the perfect set to get my MISTI into action! This set features a lovely modern 4 step layering bloom. I decided to only use 3 of the layers, but with the help of the MISTI it was a breeze and such a quicker process.

I’ve not had the time to sit and ‘play’ with my stamps or join in with challenges, so I was inspired to join in on the current CAS(E) this Sketch! sketch for the layout of my card seen HERE.

I also got my new and neglected Altenew inks out for this card. The sentiment is from Originally Organic, a clear stamp set I will be looking at later in the week, but the sentiments work perfectly with florals, so I couldn’t resit using it and showing you how Uniko clear stamp sets can work together for even more possibilities.

Next I was inspired by THIS photo on Pinterest to use I LOVE Tea clear stamp set and replicate some blue and white fine bone china.

The teacups are stamped in Encore Gold ink and again I used my MISTI for this simple stamped image. I don’t know if this happens to you, but when I stamp using metallic inks onto smooth card the image can slide slightly. So using the MISTI prevented this from happening 🙂

The teacups were decorated using the small Beautiful Blooms III image from the I LOVE Tea clear stamp set and the larger bloom from Beautiful Blooms III. As you can see I love to coordinate clear stamp sets when I am designing them! The sentiment is from Simply Said and as I need a few thank you cards post Christmas that was the reasoning behind my choice.

Lastly, but no means least I inked up Some Bunny clear stamp set. Though this set is oriented towards Spring and Easter, it is also a perfect set for New Baby cards, Children’s Birthdays and more.

I used the current Freshly Made Sketches sketch seen HERE for the layout of my card and I opted to make a New Baby Congratulations card. No harm in having one of these on hand for 2017, I know a few people expecting next year.

The bunny is such a fun and cute image, perfect for those who like to colour. But it also suits some paper piecing, for when you are short on time! The congratulations sentiment is another from Simply Said.

So, that’s a quick look back at the February 2016 Release, I hope I have given you a little inspiration to dust off these sets if you have them 😉 There is amount of 3 of the sets in stock on the website and I have planned some restocks to arrive in January.

I hope you will join me again tomorrow, when I will be taking a look back at the 2016 April Release. Until then, thank you for stopping by.

Hugs

Stamp Of The Week – Beautiful Blooms I

Hey!

Happy Monday and Happy Halloween to those who celebrate. This week I have opted for a seasonal change and I have gone for a floral set to revisit. This week I am dusting off Beautiful Blooms I and the coordinating Beautiful Blooms I Designer Dies

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Floral clear stamps are good all year round and they can also be prettied up to go with the seasons, as I will hopefully show you this week 😉 When they have a set of dies to match, there are even more possibilities!

Here is what I came up with for today…

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On my card I have used the smallest of the blooms and the coordinating die. I was inspired by the pretty photo inspiration over a Fusion Card Challenge seen HERE and below, soft and subtle are the key words.

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I was also inspired to create a celebration card. “Less is More” are celebrating a BIG milestone this week, 300 challenges HERE. The theme this week is to create a celebratory CAS card.

I started by die cutting the bloom and then temporarily adhering the panel to my card base, so I could stamp through the die cut and have perfect positioning. The MISTI is on my Christmas wish list and I am dropping HUGE hints to Santa that I could *really* do with this tool now 😉

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Down the edge of my panel I adhered some SU! Washi tape, I can’t quite remember what collection it came from (sorry) the colour is either Pool Party or Mint Macaron. The sentiment is from Simply Said and stamped in Going Grey ink and I added a few rhinestones to finish the card off.

That’s all I have to share today, my mojo is a little slow as the beans decided to do some climbing antics at nap time and therefore didn’t nap. Mummy therefore didn’t get her usual lunchtime R&R and is feeling a little tired. I will however be back tomorrow with more using this set.

This week I am giving you the opportunity to purchase both the Beautiful Blooms I clear stamp set and Designer Dies in a bundle at 15% off HERE for this week only.

Until tomorrow, thanks for stopping by 🙂

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Supplies:-

Uniko Clear Stamps:- Beautiful Blooms I Bundle

Ink:- Altenew Purple Wine, Stampin’ Up! Going Grey

Card Stock:- Stampin’ Up! White

Accessories: Stampin’ Up! Washi Tape. Rhinestones from stash and Foam Adhesive

Stamp Of The Week & Uniko Challenge #29 Reminder

Hey!

Welcome back to the NEW feature here at Uniko, Stamp Of The Week (SOTW). This week I am dusting off… Beautiful Blooms II

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Today I am combining SOTW with my Uniko Challenge #29 reminder card 😉 I had a bit of creative block yesterday, I have SO much I want to do on my bean free days, it’s hard to know where to start! It is also eerily quiet without them, I don’t think I have quite got used to them not being here for an afternoon!

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Anyway, I decided to use the Uniko Challenge colours seen HERE and below as my inspiration!

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I also needed some help with my card layout, so I turned to the new CAS Colours & Sketches challenge seen HERE and below for the layout of my card.

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I was stumped for a while as to what to use for the strips on the sketch and then it occurred to me that I have used ribbon for AGES. Do you find yourself reaching for the same accessories over and over, not using different things? I do and I have to say I have missed not adding ribbon!

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I added a few SU! It’s My Party Enamel Dots and a sentiment from Simply Said stamped in Hero Arts Soft Granite ink to finish the design off.

That’s all from me today using this set, but I will be back tomorrow with more to share. Don’t forget that this set is discounted in store HERE this week too. I hope to see you in the challenge galleries 😉

Until tomorrow, thank you for stopping by today.

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