Posts tagged “Cards”

October 2019 Post Release Brand Ambassador Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY!

Happy Weekend!

Welcome to the October 2019 Post Release Brand Ambassador Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY! Hopefully you have hopped on over from HERE, where I have introduced todays blog hop and given you a little refresh of the October Release  which went live on the website HERE a couple of weeks ago.

Today I have a few more cards to share with you using some of the new products. I was hoping to have more to share, but the ideas in my head will have to wait until I have some more creative time 😉

First up I couldn’t resist using Season Of Beauty, this large clear stamp set has so many creative possibilities and one idea I had when designing it was to build my own Poinsettia flowers using the leaves in the set.

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I used two shades of pink/red Altenew inks to stamp each flower, starting with a light shade for four leaves opposite each other and then a dark shade to fill in the gaps. The largest flower is fussy cut and adhered to the card using foam adhesive.

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My apologies for my terrible photos of this card, I need more practise (still) with my light set up and my iPhone always struggles with these bright pinks!

Next I wanted to use the Background Blocks Scandinavian Christmas to execute a white on kraft idea I have had in my head for some time now.

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For this card I used my MISTI to stamp the background block purposefully off centre in Unicorn White Pigment Ink and then heat embossed with WOW! Opaque White EP.

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Then onto some small strips of kraft card I have stamped the peace, love, joy sentiments from Festive Sentiments Outlined with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and then I have coloured the sentiments with a white gel pen. I love the result and the sentiments look fab adhered over the edge of the stamped background using foam adhesive.

Next was time for a shaker card as I haven’t made one for ages and the new stand alone Designer Die Sparkling Snowflake was calling to be used!

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I love making shaker cards, though they are quite time consuming! The results however out weigh the time taken to add all the foam adhesive around a fussy design 😉 Plus, the sparkly sequins are such a happy sight too!

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One thing I must try harder on is thinking about sentiments and sentiment placement prior to assembling cards. Especially cards that take as much time as this! I could have left it sentiment free, but I felt it needed one when complete. I’ve added the ‘Let it Snow’ from Festive Sentiments Outlined, which is stamped onto a light scrap of Pool Party card and again adhered using foam adhesive.

Lastly for today I have used Festive Sentiments Outlined to create a reasonably quick CAS card…

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Again, my iPhone really doesn’t like photographing red with lots of white, so it seems to have a pink shade to the white card 🙁 Anyway, the current sketch over at CAS(E) this Sketch! seen HERE and below was perfect.

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I used my larger MISTI to stamp the sentiments and then simply coloured them in with marker pens and adhered the panel with foam adhesive to a red card base.

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That’s all I had time to create this week for the hop, but I have so many more ideas and cards I want to make and share using these new products, that you’ll see more in the coming days and lead up to Christmas!

Now it’s time for some inspiration and a fabulous blog hop with my awesome Brand Ambassadors. Be sure to comment along the hop for your chance to win the ENTIRE Release! You have until Midnight GMT 2nd November 2019 to leave a comment and a winner will be announced shortly after.

Sarah P

That was one fabulous and inspirational hop! I hope you all enjoyed it too and don’t forget to comment along the way to be in the chance to win all the NEW goodies!

Thanks for stopping by today.

Crafty Hugs

Stamp Focus… Season Of Beauty Part 1

Happy Friday!

I thought I’d pop in today with a trio of cards I have made using the NEW Season Of Beauty clear stamp set and show you a little more of how the foliage stamps in the set can be used. This set is so fun and has so many possibilities all year round.

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First up I was inspired to use some non-traditional foliage colours and really wanted to join in on the current colour challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches seen HERE and below my card.

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I love a bit of colour blocking and foliage silhouettes, the result is a simple one layer card. I paired the large foliage silhouette with one of my favourite sentiments from Originally Organic clear stamp set.

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Next I decided to go for something more ‘foliage traditional’ with a trio of Altenew greens…

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This card was inspired by another challenge, this time the current sketch challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches seen HERE and below.

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I felt the foliage silhouettes suited the movement of the elements of the sketch. Some simple stamping and fussy cutting with sentiment stripe adhered with foam adhesive. Plus my favourite Nuvo Drops accents to finish the card.

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Lastly for today, a rainbow…

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Who doesn’t love a rainbow and how cute do the small foliage silhouettes look in a rainbow of colour? I used a selection of Catherine Pooler inks for this card and I just love how the colours look together. The sentiment is from Simply Said Blocks II.

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I hope my cards have shown you how this clear stamp set isn’t just for Christmas and can be used all year round. If not, I have some more cards to share in part 2 coming in the next few days!

Until then, thank you for stopping by & have a wonderful Friday.

Crafty Hugs


Festive Friday!

Happy Friday!

Here at Uniko HQ I am finally caught up with the fun and chaos of Happy Stampers Festival! I absolutely LOVE doing the show, but it does bring a lot of extra work pre and post show. Especially when I am prepping for the release of NEW products too 😉

Those lucky enough to be able to come to Happy Stampers got the chance to buy the new products (bar one) and if you caught my Instagram stories on Saturday you will have seen a BIG peek at the products!

If you missed both, fear not, I have a whole bunch of festive cards to share with you today using the New Release, which will be available on the website tomorrow – yay! I’m working my little socks off to have it ready to go for 8 or 9pm BST.

In this release there is three new clear stamp sets, two coordinating designer die collections, a stand alone die which does coordinate with a previously released clear stamp set AND there is one new stencil design.

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On this first card I have used Season Of Beauty clear stamp set combined with a sentiment from Festive Sentiments Outlined.

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Season Of Beauty is a large £16 clear stamp set which features this beautiful modern layering poinsettia styled flower, along with wintery foliage and accents, plus a trio of festive sentiments.

Even though I have ‘themed’ the stamp set to be festive, the style of this flower and the foliage can easily be used all year round in all seasons, by changing up the colours. You will see this in more of the samples I have to share tomorrow.

The next clear stamp set being released is Festive Sentiments Outlined. With the popularity of Sentiments Outlined released in July, it was a no brainer to bring out a festive version!

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Unlike Sentiments Outlined, I have designed this stamp set to be a little more flexible in building your own sentiments. Plus, some can be used all year round and not just for your holiday cards. Though some, like the ‘Let it Snow’ I have used on this card come as one sentiment.

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I couldn’t resist doing this all over design again like I did HERE with Sentiments Outlined. It is fairly time consuming, especially the colouring in of the sentiments in black, but I love the look! I used some blue tones to colour the focal ‘Let it Snow’ sentiment and I also added some clear gloss Nuvo Drops to that sentiment. This time I decided to add a little embellishment of some sparkly stamped and die cut snowflakes from BIG & BOLD Snow.

The last of the clear stamps for this release is an addition to the Background Blocks series. I love this series of single stamps as they are great for creating a quick cards for all sorts of occasions.

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Here I introduce you to Background Blocks Scandinavian Christmas. As you can see it is a very similar design to the previously released Stencil Scandinavian Christmas.

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This card was so quick and easily mass producible, if needed! I simply stamped the block in VersaFine Onyx Black ink and heat embossed it with my favourite ‘go to’ embossing powder for festive makes, Stardust! I’ve then adhered the stamped panel to my card base using foam adhesive and added a simple sentiment from Simply Said Blocks Christmas.

Okay, that’s all the stamps for this release, but how about a look at the Designer Dies and Stencil design!

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First up is Designer Dies Winter Foliage Collection to match the previously released and ever popular Winter Foliage clear stamp set. To say I am excited about these dies is an understatement! They have been a long awaited addition and I can’t wait to really sit down and play with them!

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Here I have used all but one of the coordinating dies and just look at this background. This photo really doesn’t show how sparkly this stencil design is. I’ve used the new Stencil Winter Foliage and the last of my Nuvo Moonstone embossing paste. You will recognise quite a few of the images in this stencil design, taken from a mixture of Uniko clear stamp sets, such as Background Builders Vines Winter Additions.

Next I have another set of coordinating designer dies, this time to match another of the BIG & BOLD clear stamps, BIG & BOLD Snow, which leads me onto my next card!

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Here I have reached for some lovely Pool Party card stock and stamped & embossed the Large Scattered Polka Dot Background with WOW! Clear Sparkle embossing powder. I then die cut the Snow and Snow shadow and added lots of glittery loveliness to the die cut snow *huge heart eyes*.

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AND lastly, but by no means least I introduce the last of the designer dies and a beautiful stand alone one at that, Designer Die Sparkling Snowflake.

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Just look at this beauty! Do you recognise the design of the snowflake? Yep, that’s right, it’s my favourite design from the previously released and much loved Stunning Snowflakes. You can see the stamped snowflakes behind this sparkly snowflake and again the sentiment from Festive Sentiments Outlined.

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So that concludes the October Release! What do you think? I’d love to know and which is your favourite, I think mine has to be the Designer Die Sparkling Snowflake, I am a sucker for snowflakes after all 😉

Okay, now I am off to finish adding all these lovely products to the website and now that I have an unexpected Bean free night AND the football is on to keep hubby occupied, they might be up early!

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs


Large Background Tropical Paradise Inspiration

Hello!

It is an overcast Thursday here in the NE of the UK 🙁 I am longing for the hot sunny days to return, so I can get out on more adventures with the boys and not get soaked through!

Anyway, I thought I would cheer Thursday up with some more Large Background Tropical Paradise inspiration. I have a couple of cards to share that both use an ink blended background. I created both backgrounds a while back when I was comparing Distress Oxide Inks with Hero Hues Reactive Inks and they are pretty much the same. I will do a comparison post soon, for now I used the backgrounds to make these cards…

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First up a fun technique I am loving right now, Reverse Emboss Resist. This is such an awesome technique to use with all those colourful ink blended backgrounds and large background stamps!

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I used Distress Oxide Inks in Fossilised Amber, Picked Raspberry and Peacock Feathers to create my ink blended background. Once it was fully dry, (either by heat setting or leaving for a few hours to dry naturally) I then stamped the Large Background Tropical Paradise in VersaMark ink and heat embossed with WOW! Clear Gloss EP.

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Then, using Catherine Pooler Midnight Ink and ink blending tool I covered the whole panel with the black ink! This is quite scary as you feel you are going to ruin the image! It’ll turn out awesome though once you buff the image with a paper towel or semi dry stamp shammy. Then bring out the embossing shine again by heating up the embossing again gently.

Just look at those beautiful colours shine through 🙂 I finished the card off with a partially stamped and embossed ‘Celebrate’ from Sentiments Outlined.

Lastly for today I used my other ink blended panel as a backdrop for a partially stamped and fussy cut Large Background Tropical Paradise

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The ink blended background was created using Hero Hues Reactive inks. I used similar colours to the Distress Oxide Inks used for the first card. The colours I used are

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I then stamped the Large Background Tropical Paradise onto some white card and fussy cut out across the diagonal to create a partial panel. I wanted the sentiment from Sentiments Outlined to be stamped onto the ink blended background.

I intended for this post to be finished and up yesterday, but due to a pulled right shoulder and two kiddos needing attention I didn’t get this last little bit done!

Today is my Bean free day, so I am hoping for a slower paced, restful but productive day! Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a lovely day.

Hugs


Featured In… Simply Cards & Papercrafts Magazine!

Woohoo!

I’m super excited to pop by this evening & tell you about another little feature I have in a magazine. This time it is with Simply Cards & Papercraft magazine and I have designed some FREE downloadable digital stamps for you to use 🙂

Can you spot a trio of the cards on the lower right of the front cover?!

One trends that is still going strong in the papercraft industry (and others) is the Tropical theme. Currently the focus of the trend is more on the leaves & foliage rather than the tropical blooms. So, I used this, along with my previously released Tropical themed clear stamp sets, Paradise, Paradise Humming Bird & Paradise Leaves to create some digital stamps.

Here is a look at the collection of stamps available for download from Simply Cards & Papercrafts Magazine website HERE.

And here are a couple of the cards I have made using the digital stamps which are featured in the magazine…

On this first card I have used just the FREE digital stamps. I enlarged the background stamp to fill a panel of white card & used my Copic Markers to colour the leaves in. The sentiment is then sized to layer across the background on a separately printed panel & I added some foam adhesive for dimension.

For this second card I used the large tropical leaf background again, but this time I erased the top section of the background. I’ve then added Bob the Toucan from Paradise clear stamps & a Father’s Day sentiment from Simply Said clear stamps.

For all the details & more samples using the FREE digital stamps, be sure to grab yourself a copy of the magazine from the Simply Cards & Papercrafts website or in the UK most leading supermarkets, Hobbycraft & WH Smith stock the magazine.

Please note that these digital stamps are only available to download HERE from Simply Cards & Papercrafts website. They are not available for download from Uniko. 

Enjoy & thanks for stopping by!

Hugs


March 2019 Non Release Design Team Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY!

Hey & Happy Weekend!

Welcome to the March 2019 Non-Release Design Team Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY!

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.

With Spring just around the corner here in the Northern Hemisphere, I thought it would be nice to give some fresh inky love to Spring Botanicals Daffodil, Spring Botanicals Snowdrop and Stencil Bright Butterflies.

As usual we have our GIVEAWAY, so be sure to comment along the hop for your chance to win Spring Botanicals Daffodil and Stencil Bright Butterflies (an alternative prize to the same value will be offered if the winner already owns these). You have until Midnight (GMT) Saturday 16th March 2019 to comment, winner will be announced shortly after.

I’ve created a trio of cards to share with you today using all 3 products and some different techniques on each of them.

First up I have used Spring Botanicals Daffodil

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I’d created this scored Basic Grey (Stampin’ Up!) card base probably more than a week ago. I’ve been loving the trend I have been seeing around social media of adding embossed scored lines to cards. After purchasing a new Fiskars mini paper trimmer with interchangeable blades, I had to give it a go!

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I decided to do some partial fussy cutting of the daffodil, which is stamped in VersaMark ink and heat embossed with detail white EP. I used Prismacolor Pencils to colour the daffodil and adhered the panel to the scored card base using foam adhesive. The sentiment is also from Spring Botanicals Daffodil and heat embossed.

Next I thought I would try my hand at some more no line colouring…

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This time I used Spring Botanicals Snowdrop. I’ve stamped the snowdrops on to Crumb Cake card using VersaMark ink. I then used my Prismacolor Pencils to colour the image in. Stamping on the kraft card base made it easier to colour the white flowers 😉

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The sentiment is from Spring Botanicals Daffodil and again is heat embossed.

Lastly I was inspired to use the Stencil Bright Butterflies

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Earlier in the week I’d seen the sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch! seen HERE and blelow, and thought it would be perfect for some stencilling!

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I used my ink daubers to selectively ink the butterflies and flowers and I simply chose some bright Altenew ink colours (Fresh Lemon, Orange Cream, Aqualicious and Rubellite). I then went over the top with Nuvo Moonstone Glimmer Paste – love this stuff! I finished the card off with a sentiment from Simply Said Blocks II.

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That’s all I have to share with you today, but be sure to hop along with the DT and comment for your chance to win 😉

What an inspirational hop, so many new ideas, I hope you all enjoyed it too 🙂

Thanks for joining in on the fun.

Hugs

October 2018 Reveal, Design Team Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY!

Woohoo!

Finally the day has arrived and the October 2018 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 all the NEW products. Now I have a couple more cards to share using some of the new stamps & stencils.

First up I have a card using Winter Botanicals: Sweet Broom…

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I thought I’d try my hand at some more no line colouring, using my trusty Prismacolor pencils. This card took me about 3 nights to finish! Considering I only get from around 8/8:30 pm – 10:30/11:30 pm to work, that wasn’t bad for me. Plus, I usually loose patience and ditch what I am colouring!!

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Once I had finished colouring I let it be and simply mounted it onto my card base using foam adhesive and kept it clear of a sentiment so I can use it for any occasion, not just Christmas.

Lastly for today (unfortunately my creative time is limited this week with The Beans off nursery for half term) I reached for one of my new favourite stencils, Quilted…

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I wanted to try some tone on tone ink blending and thought it would pair nicely with Organic Wishes, which I did for this card.

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After assembling my card I went in and added some White Blizzard Nuvo Glitter Drops to the Dandelion ends and to the centres of all the flowers of the inked stencil.

That’s all I have to share with you for today, but I know that the team have an abundance of inspiration to show you using the new products.

Carol 

Be sure to comment along the hop for your chance to win the ENTIRE Release!! You have until Midnight (GMT) Friday 9th November 2018 to comment and the winner will be announced soon after.

Happy Hopping!

Hugs

 

August 2018 Reveal, Release, Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY!

Woohoo!

Finally the day has arrived and the August 2018 Release is NOW available to purchase HERE on the website. We have our traditional Reveal, Release, Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY! Hopefully you have hoped on over from the start of the hop HERE.

I managed to squeeze in a little more creative time in between admin jobs and created a ‘twofer’ using the new Background Builders: Happy Hexagons clear stamp set…

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First up is this funky design!

I used one of the larger single hexagons to create this background. I didn’t use my stamping tool this time, I just eyeballed it and there is no particular sequence, it is totally random. I then used my Stampin’ Up! markers in bright colours to create the stripes.

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I trimmed and adhered the panel to some black card before adhering to my white card base. The ‘hello’ sentiment is from BIG & BOLD Hello, stamped, embossed in white & fussy cut out. I really *need* some dies to match these BIG & BOLD sentiments 😉
Next, I went for another brightly stamped masculine design using the hexagons, but with a softer overall feel to the card…
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I used my favourite Altenew ink colours to again stamp the larger single hexagons, just by eyeballing it. I layered the panel with some Basic Grey card and added the ‘You Rock’ sentiment from Simply Said Blocks.
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The current challenge over at Twofer Card Challenge HERE and seen below is ‘Geometrics’, hence me making a twofer with Background Builders: Happy Hexagons!
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Unfortunately, I only had time to finish these two cards 🙁
I did start making some watercolored cards very late last night, but ran out of energy to finish them, so I will be back tomorrow with those to share 🙂

I know the Design Team have been much more organised and have prepared lots of wonderful cards to inspire you using the new products, so be sure to hop along their blogs below…

Be sure to comment along the hop for your chance to win the ENTIRE Release!! You have until Midnight (BST) 2nd  September 2018 to comment and the winner will be announced soon after.

Happy Hopping!

 Hugs

Introducing… Background Builders: Happy Hexagons & Beautiful

Hey!

Welcome back to day 2 of the August 2018 Release product introductions.

This is the fun part, you now get to see all the sneak peeks in action. The Design Team have worked their socks off and created an abundance of inspiration to share with you over the coming days 🙂

Yesterday myself and the Design Team re-introduced the ‘So Much’ mini clear stamp set HERE, be sure to check out all the inspiration and comment along the hop 😉

Today we are introducing 2 new clear stamp sets, Background Builders: Happy Hexagons & Beautiful. Hopefully you have hopped on from the start HERE, where I have shared a couple of projects using the new stamps.

Now I have some more inspiration to share using Background Builders: Happy Hexagons…

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Have you noticed the stamp design in the Background Builders Geometric collection that appears in each set? I’ve used it on this first card, if not! I love the garland style of this stamp and as I want all the sets to work as a collection, apart from the correlation of them being geometrics I wanted something to flow between them and this stamp design works perfectly.

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On this first card I started by die cutting a square window mask to stamp the hexagon garland. It is such a fun stamp and with it being long and thin, it can be easily manipulated on a stamping block or in a stamping tool to be curved or made into a wavy design. Again, I used Altenew inks and paired it with a sentiment from Birthday Sentiments.

Next, I was inspired by the current challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches seen HERE and below.

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I used the open hexagon strip stamp across my base card, stamping it in VersaFine Onyx Black ink. I then used my Diamond Press Hexagon Dies (purchased from Crafters Companion) to die cut 2 hexagons, one from Lemon Lime Twist and one from Berry Burst, I just love this colour pairing!

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I stamped one of the larger hexagons onto the Lemon Lime Twist die cut and layered it slightly onto the Berry Burst die cut. The sentiment is one of my faves from Simply Said Blocks.

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Lastly, but by no means least I have a card to share with you using Beautiful…

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This is another card from the Uniko Summer Stamping Retreat and I think my favourite! I love the juicy bright colours and added little leaf sprig from a clear stamp set being introduced tomorrow 😉 The sentiment is another of the mix and match options in the set and I have added some Bakers Twine & Nuvo Drops to embellish the sentiment strip.

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That’s all I have to share with you today using these new clear stamp sets, but I know the Design Team have created even more fabulous inspiration to showcase them, be sure to hop along!

Well, I thoroughly enjoyed that hop and I am all inspired to get inky! I’d love to know your thoughts on these clear stamp sets and which is your favourite of the two, that is if you can decide?! That’s all from myself and the Design Team today, but be sure to come by tomorrow for even more product introductions 🙂

Hugs