Posts tagged “Birthday”

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…

BevLIMgdOct19b

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.

406 ColourRainbow

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.

BevLIMgdOct19c

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…

BirthdayDoilies

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!

sketch 340

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.

BirthdayDoilies1b

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…

Sailing1

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.

Sailing1c

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


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!

UnikoChallenge#54

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.

UnikoChallenge#54b

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!

UnikoChallenge#54c

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 😉

MCMrestock1

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).

MCMrestock1a

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

MCMrestock2

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.

324

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.

MCMrestock2a

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…

BirthdayDoodleFlowers

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.

BirthdayDoodleFlowers1

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 😉

sketch 323

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!

5th birthday banner

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.

BBinspiration1

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.

BBinspiration1a

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.

5th birthday banner

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

BBinspiration2

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.

BBinspiration2a

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…

BBinspiration3

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.

BBinspiration3a

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


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…

MayRD1

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!

MayRD1a

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.

double 319

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.

MayRD2

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 😉

MayRD2a

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!

Hugs

7th Birthday February 2019 Reveal, Blog Hop & Giveaway Treasure Hunt!

Happy Birthday Uniko & Woohoo!

Finally the day has arrived and the 7th Birthday February 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 shared a look at all the products & their prices! Did you see this though…?

This little gem is a Release Day FREEBIE Clear Stamp Set, we introduced it in the blog hop yesterday HERE.

This clear stamp set will be automatically added to release day orders of £25 or more up until Sunday 17th Feb 9pm GMT or while stock lasts.

After 9pm GMT Sunday 17th February, if there is stock remaining it will be made available for purchase at £5.

As it is our 7th Birthday Blog Hop I wanted to add a little more FUN to the blog hop and I have incorporated a Treasure Hunt!

Hidden in photos along the blog hop are these letter balloon icons.

The ‘Rules’ of The Treasure Hunt are simple…

1. Comment along the Blog Hop & find the icons

2. Email bev@uniko.co.uk with the following information

– Design Team Members Name & Balloon Letter Found

– What the Balloons spell out

Entries need to be emailed no later than Thursday 28th February 2019, for the winner to be announced Friday 1st March 2019 (winner will be randomly chosen from all the correct entries).

Prize…

The ENTIRE 7th Birthday February Release! (6 clear stamp sets, 2 co-ordinating designer die collections & 1 stencil design).

PLUS… I will still randomly select another winner! Be sure to comment along the hop for your chance to win ALL SIX Clear Stamp Sets!! You have until Midnight (GMT) Thursday 28th February 2019 to comment and the winner will be announced with ALL the 7th Birthday February 2019 Winners.

Okay, so now I have mentioned all the ‘formal’ stuff! How about a couple more cards using the new release…

Feb19RD1

First up I decided to go for a more feminine card & opted to use Pantone’s colour of the year. I am partial to a bit of Coral and feel I haven’t embraced this years colour as much as I have wanted to !

I have used Background Blocks Pinstripe and heat embossed it in white across my card base. The sentiment in from Birthday Wishes and is also heat embossed. I added some white bakers twine and gloss white Nuvo Drops to finish.

Feb19RD1a

And lastly for today is another BIG & BOLD Happy card…

Feb18RD2

This is the ‘other’ two for the price of one technique cards, where I shared the first HERE on Day 1 of the introductions! On this card I have done inlay die cutting with the ‘happy’ word die. I created a striped panel of coloured card (great way of using up all those scraps) on a thin piece of white card.

Feb19RD2a

I then die cut the ‘happy’ word die into this panel. As I was going through a couple of layers of card I went through my cutting machine a couple of times. I set the striped happy aside and kept the inner parts of the a, p & p for this card. I then die cut another happy from a white card panel the same size of the striped panel (which was used to create the card I shared on Day 1) and inlayed it into this striped panel.

Finally the word Birthday is stamped and heat embossed white and again I added my favourite gloss white Nuvo Drops to finish!

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 🙂

WINstampsforayear

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

Hugs

 

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…

IntroPinstripe

 

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 😉

IntroDay5a

 

 

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!

CC&S color307-001

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.

BirthdayWishes&YesYou

 

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.

IntroDay5d

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…
WreathYesYou
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.
IntroDay5c

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 🙂

WINstampsforayear

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

Hugs