Posts tagged “Paradise”

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


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


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.

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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.

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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…

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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.

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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!

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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!

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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!

Keren

Bev (that’s me)

Carol 

Hugs

 

Introducing…Large Background Tropical Paradise

Hey!

Welcome to Day 2 of the July 2019 Release product introductions. This is the fun part where myself, my guest designer and the design team get to show you LOTS of inspiration, using all the new products leading up to  26th, July, Release Day!

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’s product is one new clear stamp set you might recognise. I recently designed it as part of a digital stamp collection for Simply Cards & Papercrafts Magazine HERE. As soon as I had designed it as a digital stamp I knew it HAD to be a physical stamp too! What better time than Summer (in the Northern Hemisphere) is there to be inspired and use this stamp?!

As much as this stamp looks fabulous in traditional tropical greens, it also looks awesome coloured rainbow style and paired with Bob the Toucan from Paradise clear stamp set…

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I stamped the Large Background Tropical Paradise with Catherine Pooler Midnight ink. I then used Stampin’ Up! Stampin’ Blends in a rainbow of colours to colour the leaves. Bob the Toucan is also stamped with Midnight ink and I simply coloured his beak and fussy cut him out.

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Now I couldn’t let the other strip of the Tropical Paradise that I’d coloured go to waste, so I put it to use on this next card…

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This time I paired it with the ‘Have a Perfect Day’ sentiment from Sentiments Outlined which we introduced yesterday. I also added a couple of stamped leaves from Paradise Leaves and the solid Hibiscus flower from Paradise.

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I coloured the sentiment with a dark Bermuda Bay Stampin’ Blend and it is hard to see in the photo, but I added some clear Wink of Stella to the Hibiscus flower.

Lastly I wanted to heat emboss the Large Background Tropical Paradise and I have also paired it with a stamp set we will be introducing on Thursday…

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I used WOW! Jealous Guy embossing powder for the background, it is a lovely lime green. The sentiment is from a new clear stamp set called Wild and I have stamped the main bold ‘Wild’ from the set, coloured it with a fine liner, fussy cut the letters and adhered them to the card using foam adhesive. I’ve also added Morning Dew Nuvo Drops to the ‘Wild’ sentiment.

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The smaller ‘About You’ is heat embossed with WOW! Opaque Bright White EP and I can’t wait to share more of this set on Thursday!

That’s all the samples I have to share with you today, but it wouldn’t be a release without a daily blog hop full of inspiration! 

As usual my AWESOME Design Team and wonderful Guest Designer this month, Keren Baker have worked their magic with todays products, so be sure to hop along & see them. This is the order of the hop…

Keren

Bev (That’s Me!)

Carol 

Sarah P

Wiebke 

WOW!

That was a phenomenal inspirational hop, so many creative ways to use the Large Background Tropical Paradise and lots of fresh new inky ways to use the previously released Paradise and Paradise Leaves paired with it! I hope you enjoyed it and you will join us again tomorrow for another product introduction and LOTS more inspiration 🙂

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


Guest Designer Inspiration with Anna Uhras

Hi Dear Uniko Friends! 

Anna here again today bringing you my last (but not least) page made for my GDT spot here at Uniko. I’ve had a blast playing with all the gorgeous stamps, stencils and dies Bev sent to me to create with.

Thank you so much sweet Bev <3

For this layout I’ve made my own background papers using the Paradise Leaves Clear Stamps.  The word “kindness” you can find in the Simply Said II Clear Stamp set. The papers in my layers under my photo are by Heidi Swapp Pineapple Crush collection and my title is also by Heidi Swapp  but from my hoarded stash 🙂

I fussy cut some of the leafs and mounted them with 3d tape to get some dimension. Lastly, I finished my page off with some stitches my by sewing machine and some dots of Nuvo Jewel Drops. I do really love these leafs, they are absolutely gorgeous.

I hope that you have got some new ideas and some inspiration from my creations.

Thanks so much for stopping by here today! See you out in the scrappy world​ <3

Take care! Hugs Anna xo

Uniko Featured in PaperCrafter Magazine!

Hey!

It’s been and is a super fun time at Uniko HQ at the moment.

The May 2018 Release Countdown has begun and I have been sharing sneak peeks HERE, HERE and HERE of the new products coming on 12th May at 9am BST. I am also in countdown mode to Happy Stampers Festival, where you will get to buy all the Uniko products available on the website, including the NEW Release! I will be there along with some of the FABULOUS Uniko Design Team and I will be demoing some of the NEW Release too 😉

Along with all this I have been busy behind the scenes designing and working on some FUN magazine features! Today I get to share the feature I have in PaperCrafter Magazine 🙂

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This is the first time I have worked with PaperCrafter Magazine and it is fun to see my worked featured in a different style and format. The magazine is NOW available in the shops and the FREE Tropical Digital Stamps can be downloaded from the PaperCrafter Magazine website HERE.

Here is a look at the digital stamps available in the download…

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Those who are familiar with Uniko Clear Stamps will recognise Bob The Toucan from the Paradise Clear Stamp Set and some of the leaves from Paradise Leaves Clear Stamp Set.

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I’ve changed them up a little and I’ve added in a Flamingo friend and a pretty Plumeria flower.

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I made this extra card not featured in the magazine to share with you today…

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I started by printing Bob onto a piece of Stampin’ Up! Whisper White CS and then I coloured him (not so well) with my Copic markers. I then fussy cut just the top half of the branch around him. I also printed off 3 Plumeria flowers and coloured them with Copics and fussy cut them out.

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The background is one of the tropical leaves coloured on the computer and printed out at 50% opacity to give a slightly softer look and colouring on the computer is so much quicker 😉 I’ve then adhered Bob and the Plumeria flowers using 1mm thick foam adhesive and added some Stampin’ Up! enamel dots to finish the design off.

Be sure to head on over to the PaperCrafter website and get your FREE digital stamp download HERE.

That’s all I have to share for now! I’d LOVE to see what you create using the freebies, so please tag @unikoltd on social media or #unikoltd 😉

Hugs

Uniko Sponsors the 2017 Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop!

Hey & Happy Friday!

I am super happy you have stopped by the blog today as, Uniko is honoured to have been invited again by the lovely Amy from Tsuruta Designs to sponsoring another fun blog hop and challenge…

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Friday 23rd June – Friday 30th June

The winner of the Uniko prize will receive an £15 eGift Certificate to spend in store.

PLUS Uniko is a Flash Sponsor with a chance to win both

I LOVE Coffee AND I LOVE Tea

Anyone is eligible for a Super Sponsor prize if they link up a newly created Summer Themed Coffee, Tea & or Cocoa project, no back-linkng please. Random.org will be used to draw the winners.

To link up your projects and more details about the hop and Super Sponsors pop on over to the Coffee Loving Cardmakers Blog HERE.

To kick this FABulous hop off I’ve created my own Summer themed tea card…

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{Click Photo for a Closer Look}

When I think of Summer at the moment I instantly think of Tropical beaches, florals and colours. Hence my pairing of I LOVE Tea with Paradise.

I was inspired by the current challenge over at AAA cardsHERE, which is to use the emboss resist technique. I used the outline Hibiscus flower and solid leaves from Paradise clear stamp set, stamping them in VersaMark ink and heat embossing in clear EP. I then applied my favourite distress inks.

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The tea cup was stamped with the solid Hibiscus flower and leaves before I fussy cut it out. The sentiment is also from I LOVE Tea and I added some Stampin’ Up! Glitter Enamel Dots to finish the design off 🙂

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{Click Photo for a Closer Look}

That’s all I have to share here, but I have another project that I am entering into the challenge HERE! I’d love you to check it out 😉

Anyway, before I go today, how about another PRIZE?! 

Simply leave a comment on this post by 6am (PST) June 30th and I will select one lucky comment to receive the Uniko I LOVE Tea AND Paradise clear stamp sets. If the winner owns any of the products above an alternative choice of an in stock stamp set to the same value will be offered.

*Edited to Add the WINNER of my Blog Candy… Malini C.  Congratulations!

I look forward to hopping by and seeing all your wonderful creations, have fun!

A Look Back At 2016!

Hey!

Welcome back to another ‘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 taking a look back at the June 2016 Release and giving some fresh inky love to Paradise  and Paradise Leaves clear stamp sets.

First up a card using Paradise

A super quick and CAS card! I started by stamping the sentiment from the set and used my favourite of the Hibiscus flowers, stamped in Pink Grapefruit. The solid leaves from the set are stamped in Key Lime and the tiny trio of flowers in Persimmon. Hopefully in this next photo you can see the sparkle of the Clear Wink Of Stella I added to the flowers 🙂

For my Paradise Leaves card I used the same trio of colours, but also added in Turquoise Gem, Aquatic Splash and Sea Breeze.

The sentiment is from Originally Organic and another quick CAS card! It was lovely to play and think of warmer places, it has been SO cold here today and the frost we had overnight hardly lifted.

So, that’s a quick look back at the June 2016 Release, I hope I have given you a little inspiration to dust off these sets if you have them 😉

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

Hugs