Posts tagged “Uniko Ltd” (Page 5)

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!

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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.

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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

Uniko Challenge #55 – Anything Goes with Optional Twist Autumn

Hey!

 Welcome to the September/October 2019 Uniko Challenge.

We have that all time favourite theme of Anything Goes for this new challenge, but if you’d like to challenge yourself a bit more then go with our twist of Autumn.

We’re really delighted to have Myra as our Guest Designer for this challenge. I think this must be a first for Uniko a Guest Designer who is only 8 years old! She is following in her mum, Anushree’s footsteps and sharing her blog to showcase her wonderful talent.

Such a gorgeous card and an assured future in crafting for sure!
I don’t know about you? But I can’t choose a favourite season. There is something I love about all of them and I love seeing the change from season to season too, especially the colours. Right now in the UK the mornings are crisp and fresh, the afternoons (recently) filled with warm sunshine and then, simply delightful evening sunsets.
Anyway, how about some inspiration! Shockingly Uniko doesn’t have any Autumn specific products, but there are a few which lend themselves to all seasons, like the Large Background Sketched Foliage, which I reached for to create my first card.
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As you can see from the photo, I have been treating myself to new inky goodies. Seriously, I just can’t resist ink pads. I have a real addiction to them and colour – haha!
These are from The Stamp Market and I have used 3 of the colours from their first Colour Crush Collection, Melon, Leafy & Mossy. They stamp beautifully and I also gave them a spin with my Tailored Expressions Blender Brushes. They are the same style / format of ink as the Catherine Pooler inks and like those, then blend really nice and smooth. I’ve used my usual Stampin’ Up! Whisper White CS.

Once my ink blended panel was dry I placed it in my MISTI and stamped the Large Background Sketched Foliage in the darker shade of green, Mossy.

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Not wanting to draw too much focus from the background, I finished the card off with a simple sentiment from You Are, Yes You.

This leads me nicely onto my second card…

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Having used the sentiment from You Are, Yes You, I saw the little quirky leaves in the set and thought they would make for a lovely tumbling Autumnal leaf background. I selected a trio of Autumnal colours from my (ever growing) Altenew ink collection and set to stamping a random background.

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I used a sentiment from Birthday Wishes stamped in VersaFine Onyx Black ink onto a favourite Papertrey Ink (Ink to Paper) die I have in my stash.

I hope I have inspired you to join in on the challenge & look at your stash to see what could be used for an Autumnal twist. If you need some more inspiration, be sure to check out what my awesome Brand Ambassadors have created…

Carol

And, 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 25th October 2019.

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.

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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


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


Words of Encouragement

Hello & Happy Weekend.

It’s been a pretty gloomy, rainy and windy day here. With a hint of Autumn in the air, I wanted to create something with some bright colours and use some simple words of encouragement.

I had a good look through my stash and I decided to use Background Blocks Doodle Flower. This is such a fun stamp to add pops of bright colours.

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I kept my card design really simple, allowing the block of pattern to take centre stage. I stamped the block in Catherine Pooler Midnight ink and coloured with some bright Stampin’ Up! Stampin’ Blends.

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The three small sentiments are from Simply Said Blocks and I stamped them onto some small scraps of coloured card to tie in all the colours and to make the sentiments pop a little more against the background.

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A pretty quick card to make, I didn’t time myself, but it must have taken me less than 20 minutes. So I thought I would join in on the fun over at AAA Cards with their current challenge HERE, Made in Minutes.

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Before I go today, I thought I would share another quick card using *some* of the crafty stash I have purchased this year! Even though I design my own products, I like to support other small business and I simply can’t resist adding other awesome companies products to my stash and they often include stamps!

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Like these fabulous Chubby Unicorns from Funky Fossil Designs!

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I don’t normally go for cute stuff, but these were just the right amount 😉 I have paired the stamped unicorn with the Rainbow & Clouds Dies from ‘Lil Inker. The sentiment is a Uniko one, from Simply Said Blocks II.

That’s all from me today, I hope I have added a little cheer to your day.

Thank you 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


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


Current BEST Seller!

Hello & Happy Monday!

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

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

BackgroundBlocksMidCenturyModernPP

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

This in turn inspired me to ink it up again…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Until tomorrow, thank you for stopping by.

Hugs


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… WILD and Animal Print Stencils

Hey!

Welcome to Day 4 and the last of the July 2019 Release product introductions.

Hopefully you have hopped on over from our lovely Guest Designer Keren’s blog HERE. If you missed the start of the hop and introduction to todays products, you can catch up HEREToday we are introducing a clear stamp set called Wild and 3 Animal Print Stencils, Giraffe, Tiger & Zebra.

My apologies for my tardiness, I am blaming the heatwave here in the UK for my lack of organisation and for zapping my mojo!

Anyway, enough of that, how about some more cards using some of todays products…

 

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How about a little Zebra camouflage?  This stencil is so easy and fun to use and this card was super quick to make. I used Catherine Pooler Midnight ink to colour through the stencil, but be aware that you will need an ink cleaner to clean the stencil afterwards.

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For the sentiment I stamped the WILD and fussy cut the letters out. Once I had adhered them to the card I placed the stencil over the top and traced where the stencil would have been inked. I then used a fine liner to full the areas in. Such a fun camouflage effect.

I had so much fun with the Zebra stencil and I couldn’t wait to use it rainbow style!

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I used Altenew inks for this and my new Tailored Expressions Blender Brushes and I achieved this soft beautiful rainbow Zebra print 🙂

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After I stamped the sentiment I added some clear Nuvo Drops to the WILD sentiment for a bit of shimmer and interest.

Lastly I had to create an idea that came to me when I designed the WILD clear stamp set…

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Sometimes you just need a quick clean and simple idea to let someone know that you are thinking about them when they have lost a furry companion. The little paw print in the set paired with the With Sympathy from Simply Said is perfect.

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

Sarah P

Wiebke 

WOW!

That was a phenomenal inspirational hop, so many creative designs and ways to use this new clear stamp set and stencils.

I hope you enjoyed it and you will join us again tomorrow for the full reveal, Design Team Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY and all the products will be available to purchase at 9pm BST.

Hugs