Uniko VIP Facebook Group Challenge

Hi there

I hope you've been keeping up with all the birthday celebrations over at Uniko.  

As part of the birthday month celebrations, Bev is starting monthly challenges over on the VIP Facebook Group which you can find here.  It's a private group but you can request to join if you're not already a member.

This challenge will be to share a Birthday/Celebration card in the challenge album.  To qualify all you need to do is ensure you use Uniko products on your card. The winner will receive a £10 eGift Certificate.

As a Brand Ambassador I'm sharing a card there too and this is the birthday card I made for a special friend recently, using Background Blocks Layered Modern Florals stamp set...

On a die cut panel I stamped the flowers multiple times using my MISTI, adding a darker pink shade in the flower centres.  I then stamped the main leaves using two shades of green ink, before filling in a few gaps with the smaller accent leaf and dots stamps.  I stamped the sentiment which is made up using stamps from the Flower Power #2 and Flower Power #11 stamp sets.  I adhered the panel flat to the card base and finished with a scattering of small silver gemstones.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - Background Blocks Layered Modern Florals, Flower Power #2, Flower Power #11 
• Ink: Altenew - Frosty Pink, Coral Berry, Mountain Mist, Volcano Lake; Versafine Clair - Nocturne
• Dies: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Scalloped Rectangles

My fellow Brand Ambassadors will also be sharing some makes over in the Facebook group so there will be lots of inspiration.  

I hope you'll join in with the challenge and good luck!

Don't forget to continue to check out the Uniko blog throughout the rest of February, there is lots more to come!

Uniko - Celebrating 13 Years!

Good morning!

Today marks the start of Uniko's 13th Birthday celebrations.  There will be lots of inspiration throughout the whole of February so we would love for you to join us throughout the month.

We are starting today with a Birthday Card Linky Party.  All you need to do to join in is create a birthday card using any Uniko products (current, retired or digital) and link up in the linky over on the Uniko blog post.  See below for more info.

For my birthday card I've used stamps from two Uniko stamp sets - Up & Away and Sunshine & Rainbows...

On a die cut panel I began by stamping the balloon and basket from the Up & Away set and then masking then off so I could then ink blend the background.  I blended from the top, gradually fading out the blue sky.  With the masks still in place I then stamped the clouds from the Sunshine & Rainbows set using white pigment ink.  I removed the masks and coloured the balloon with Copics before stamping the sentiments in black ink.  The panel was then adhered flat to the card base.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - Up & Away, Sunshine & Rainbows
• Ink: Altenew - Caribbean Sky; Memento - Tuxedo Black; Hero Arts - Unicorn; Versafine Clair - Nocturne
• Coloured with Copics
• Dies: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles

Take a look at the Uniko blog post, here, to see some more birthday inspiration from Bev and the other Brand Ambassadors.

You can find all the rules of the Linky Party over at the Uniko blog too.  The linky will be open until the end of the month and one lucky winner will receive a £25 eGift Certificate.

And check this out...Bev is offering 15% off all existing products until 9 February if you've had your eye on anything on the webside:

Don't forget to check out the Uniko blog throughout the whole of February, they'll be lots going on.

Uniko January 2025 Reveal, Release, Brand Ambassador Blog Hop & Giveaway

Good morning!

It's release day over at Uniko and I'm here to reveal the whole release and share another card.

Here's the final card I made...

I grabbed the new Mid Century Modern Circles & Stars stencil and inked it up using the shifted stencil technique.  So, on any cardstock other than white (I chose a neutral beige), ink up in a colour first, here I used Distress Oxide Dried Marigold.  Then once dry, shift the stencil slightly, and ink through it with white pigment ink.  I shifted it slightly downward and to the right.  I love the dimensional effect you get with this technique, some colours work better than others.  I die cut the panel and adhered it flat to the card base.  I then stamped a sentiment from the new Flower Power #11 on a die cut strip and popped it up on 3D foam.  A few orange enamel dots and the card was finished.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - Flower Power #11
• Stencils: Uniko - Mid Century Modern Circles and Stars
• Ink: Distress Oxide: Dried Marigold; Hero Arts - Unicorn; Versafine Clair - Nocturne
• Dies: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles
• Accents: Doodlebug Sprinkles
• Cardstock from stash

So, now to reveal the new and reintroduced products in full.

Reintroducing... Background Builders: Flower Power

Now the new stamp sets....Sparkle Sentiments...

And the new addition to the Flower Power series...Flower Power #11

and Simply Said Blocks Occasions...

Two new Ink & Flip stencil sets...Ink & Flip Layering Geometric Gem...

and Ink & Flip Layering Flower...

a new layering stencil set...Layering Picked Posies...

and finally, another stencil to join the Mid Century Modern collection...Mid Century Modern Circles & Stars...

No doubt there is something amongst the above that grabs your creative attention.  Be sure to leave some comments on the Brand Ambassador blogs or social media.  You can find all the links over at the Uniko blog, here.  By leaving comments along the way you will be in with a chance of winning some goodies.  All the details are on the Uniko blog post.

The products are available from the Uniko store now, here. 

Thanks for visiting today and for your lovely comments here and on my socials this week :)

Uniko January 2025 Release - Introducing...Ink & Flip Layering Flower Stencil and Simply Said Blocks Occasions

Good morning

More Uniko introductions for you today.  First is another Ink & Flip stencil, Layering Flower Stencil, which is a smaller version of Flower Power #8 and another set to join the sentiment sets already available, Simply Said Blocks Occasions.

My first card is very clean and simple, just using the central part of the Ink & Flip Layering Flower stencil, and a sentiment from the new Flower Power #11 set which was introduced yesterday...

I inked through both sides of the stencil, blending from pink, to purple and blue in both directions.  I then simply stamped the sentiment in black and added a few silver gloss gems.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Uniko - Ink & Flip Layering Flower Stencil
• Stamps: Uniko - Flower Power #9
• Ink: Distress Ink - Picked Raspberry, Wilted Violet, Blueprint Sketch; Versafine Clair - Nocturne
• Accents: Gems from stash

Onto my second card, and here I used just the stencil which inks up the outer background effect and creates a great shape in the centre, and I also used a sentiment from the new Simply Said Blocks Occasions set and also the existing Simply Said Blocks set, and the flower is from Flower Power #11...

I inked up a panel through both sides of the stencil using a blush shade and lemon shade of ink and the overlaps produced the orange shade.  I then simply stamped the flower head and stem in black and the sentiment in the same ink colours.  The small dot is also from the Flower Power #11 set.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Uniko - Ink & Flip Layering Flower
• Stamps: Uniko - Flower Power #11, Simply Said Blocks, Simply Said Blocks Occasions
• Ink: Altenew - Buttercream, Pink Pearl; Versafine Clair - Nocturne

For my last card I used both ink and paste through the stencil...

On a die cut panel I inked up through the first side of the stencil in Milled Lavender Distress Oxide ink.  I then cleaned the stencil, flipped it, and then spread the paste through the second side which had been mixed with some of the Distress Ink for a similar tone.  The "happy" is from the Simply Said Blocks set and the "Mother's Day" stamps are from the new Simply Said Blocks Occasions set.  I stamped these in a co-ordinating grey shade of ink and fussy cut them out and adhered them on 3D foam.  A small enamel dot in the centre finished off the card.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Uniko - Ink & Flip Layering Flower Stencil
• Stamps: Uniko - Simply Said Blocks, Simply Said Blocks Occasions
• Ink: Distress Oxide - Milled Lavendar; Altenew - Silver Stone
• Stencil Paste: Sweet Poppy - Stencil Dimensions Pearl White
• Die: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles
• Accent: Doodlebug Sprinkles - Lilac assortment

Thanks so much for taking a look today.  You can find more projects from the team using these two new products over at the Uniko blog, here.  There are some great creations, I've seen them already.

All the new products will be available from Sunday 5 January 2025.

I hope you'll pop back tomorrow when I will be introducing the final product of this release which is a re-introduction.

Uniko January 2025 Release - Introducing...Flower Power #11 and Mid Century Modern Circles & Stars Stencil

Hi there

Ok, so we're now onto day three of the new Uniko introductions.

And yes, Bev has done it - she's designed another stamp set to join the Flower Power collection - Flower Power #11!  And there is also a new stencil to join the Mid Century Modern series - Mid Century Modern Circles and Stars.

I'll start with the stamp set as I love this new flower design.  Here I've paired the set with a backdrop using the Background Blocks Solid Wonky Stripes stamp...

On a die cut panel I began by stamping the flower head and stem/leaves in a light coloured ink and then coloured them with Copics.  I then made masks to enable me to stamp the background stripes over the top but to appear behind.  I left the flower and stem stamps in my MISTI so I could then re-stamp them, this time in VersaMark and then heat embossed in white.  As I used both stamps together at the same time, there was a small gap where the flower head met the stem so I used an embossing pen to extend the stem and also heat embossed that section.  I finished by stamping the sentiment, also from the new set, and adhered the panel flat to the card base.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - Flower Power #11, Background Blocks Solid Wonky Stripes
• Ink: Altenew - Dew Drops; VersaMark; Versfine Clair - Nocturne
• Embossing Powder: Brutus Monroe - Alabaster
• Die: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles

And now my second card using the new stencil...

On some mustard cardstock I inked through the stencil, using brown ink for the circles and then masking them off to ink up the blue star sections.  I then used a circle die to cut a section and adhere off the edge of the card base.  For the sentiment, I didn't have any cardstock in the right blue shade so I die cut the strip, ink blended with the same blue ink, left it to thoroughly dry and then stamped and heat embossed the sentiment, which is from the Mid Century Modern Frames set.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Uniko - Mid Century Modern Circles & Stars
• Stamps: Uniko - Mid Century Modern Frames
• Ink: Distress Oxide - Vintage Photo, Uncharted Mariner; VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Brutus Monroe - Alabaster
• Dies: Hero Arts - Infinity Nested Circles; Altenew - Featured Sentiments

I had some of the stencilled design leftover so I made another card...

I cut a vertical strip of the already inked design and then lined up the stencil on my card base to continue the design, which I inked up in more muted shades to create the design across the whole of the card.  I adhered the vertical strip and then added a die cut panel with a stamped sentiment using stamps from the Mid Century Modern Birthday and Mid Century Modern Everyday Sentiments sets.  This was popped up on 3D foam.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Uniko - Mid Century Modern Circles & Stars
• Stamps: Uniko - Mid Century Modern Birthday, Mid Century Modern Everyday Sentiments
• Ink: Distress Oxide - Vintage Photo, Uncharted Mariner, Speckled Egg, Scattered Straw; Versafine Clair - Nocturne
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Rounded Stitched Rectangle Stax

Take a look at the Uniko blog, here, for more inspiration from the rest of the team, the projects are all so different.

All the new products will be available from Sunday 5 January 2025.

Tomorrow I'll be introducing two more products from this new release, I hope you'll join me.

Uniko January 2025 Release - Introducing...Ink & Flip Layering Geometric Gem and Sparkle Sentiments

Happy New Year!

I hope you had a great time seeing in 2025.

It's also day two of the latest introductions at Uniko. 

The first of today's introductions is a new addition to the Ink & Flip collection - Ink & Flip Layering Geometric Gem - Bev just can't stop knocking out these great designs!  And the second is a fab new stamp set that works so well with the stencil set - Sparkle Sentiments.

Here's the first of my cards which uses both of these new products...

I chose to use some pearlescent cardstock for this one.  I ink blended just the central part of the gem stencil set in two shades of pink ink and then cut it out.  I mounted it onto a die cut panel of the same cardstock and stamped and heat embossed the sentiment, before adhering the panel flat to the card base.  The camera has washed out the inking a little here but I wanted to capture the pearlescent effect.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Uniko - Ink & Flip Layering Geometric Gem
• Stamps: Uniko - Sparkle Sentiments
• Ink: Distress Ink - Picked Raspberry, Kitsch Flamingo; VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Platinum
• Die: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles
• Cardstock from stash

And for my second card I used both of the Ink & Flip stencils, together with the stamp set...

I began by inking through the background stencil with lemon and aqua inks which, when overlapped, created the green shade.  I then used lilac and blue inks to create the gem in the centre.  To finish I added sentiments from the stamp set, some embossed in silver sparkle.

Materials used:

• Stencils: Uniko - Ink & Flip Layering Geometric Gem
• Stamps: Uniko - Sparkle Sentiments
• Ink: Altenew - Citrus Burst, Mountain Mist, Icy Water, Soft Lilac; VersaMark; Versafine Clair - Nocturne
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Silver Sparkle

And my final card for today is super simple and I've used just the stamp set...

I placed all the stamps in my MISTI and then stamped multiple times using inks in rainbow order diagonally, overlapping to create blends from one colour to the next.  With my stamps still in place I finally stamped them again using VersaMark and then heat embossed in clear gloss.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - Sparkle Sentiments
• Ink: Altenew - Crimson, Orange Cream, Warm Sunshine, Forest Glades, Caribbean Sky, Hydrangea, Pinkalicious; VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Clear Gloss

Why not visit the main Uniko blog, here, for more inspiration.  Bev and the Brand Ambassadors are sharing lots of great makes showcasing these products today.

All the new products will be available from Sunday 5 January 2025.

I hope you'll pop back tomorrow where myself and the team will be introducing another new stamp set and a new stencil.

Uniko October/November 2024 Release - Introducing...Framed: Fairy Lights

Good morning and Happy Saturday!

It's time for the final introduction from the latest Uniko release, coming tomorrow.

Bev has designed another great stamp set to join the Framed family...Framed Fairy Lights.

Here's my first card where I've just used part of the stamp to create a window scene...

I stamped part of the fairy lights image onto my card base and coloured the lights with Copics.  I then stamped the illusion of a Christmas tree using a small foliage stamp from the Season of Beauty stamp set.  I die cut some purple cardstock to create a panel with an aperture, and then die cut the window frame in white and then adhered these to the card base to leave the lights showing through.  I finished with a sentiment which is also from the Framed Fairy Lights set.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - Framed Fairy Lights; Season of Beauty
• Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black, Cottage Ivy; Versafine Clair - Nocturne
• Coloured with Copics
• Dies: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles; Clearly Besotted - Window Die

And for my second card I used the image in it's entirety, together with greetings from the set...

I simply stamped the whole of the framed image directly on my card base in Copic friendly ink and coloured in the lights with markers.  The sentiments were heat embossed in white on black sentiment strips.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - Framed Fairy Lights
• Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black; VersaMark
• Coloured with Copics
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White
• Die: Altenew - Featured Sentiments

As always, there's plenty more to see over on the main Uniko blog, here.  My fellow Brand Ambassadors have some lovely projects to share with you.

The whole release will be revealed tomorrow, Sunday 3 November 2024 at 9.00am GMT, and will also then be available to purchase from the Uniko online store, here. 

I hope you've enjoyed the introductions this week and please do drop by tomorrow to see the whole release.  There will also be a chance to win all these new goodies.

Uniko October/November 2024 Release - Introducing...BIG & BOLD Joy

Good morning.

It's time for another new introduction from the upcoming release at Uniko.

And this time it's another great addition to the Big & Bold family of stamp sets...Big & Bold Joy.  Another great set, I think you'll agree.

The focal point on my first card is all heat embossed stamping...

On a panel of raspberry coloured cardstock I planned out where I wanted the various elements.  I started by stamping and heat embossing the dove in white.  Next I masked the dove and then stamped and heat embossed the word Joy in platinum.  I then stamped and embossed the foliage in green glitter and then finally the second part of the sentiment was heat embossed in red glitter.  And finally, before adhering the panel to my card base, I blended a darker shade of red ink around the edges to give it some depth.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - Big & Bold Joy
• Ink: VersaMark; Distress Ink - Aged Mahogany
• Embossing Powder: Brutus Monroe - Alabaster; Wow! - Platinum; Heat It Up Embossing Tinsel - Green and Red

Next I combined the set with stamps from the Christmas Pop set...

On the card base I stamped the tree and star to create a backdrop which was to show through an aperture.  I die cut an aperture from a panel and I then heat embossed the Joy in gold on a strip of vellum which was fussy cut and then wrapped around the panel and adhered on the reverse before adhering the panel flat to the card base.  The rest of the greeting was heat embossed in white on a grey sentiment strip and adhered on 3D foam.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - Big & Bold Joy, Christmas Pop
• Ink: Memento - Cottage Ivy; Versa Color - Gold; VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Gold Rich; Brutus Monroe - Alabaster
• Die: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles
• Vellum from stash

We still have another introduction tomorrow before the big reveal on Sunday so be sure to pop back if you can, and visit the main Uniko blog, here.

I'll be back tomorrow with a couple more cards using another of the new products.

Uniko October/November 2024 Release - Re-introducing...Pure Florals Poinsettia

Good morning

Pure Florals Poinsettia is a beautiful stamp set which is making a comeback as part of the upcoming release from Uniko at the weekend.

The set features a beautiful poinsettia bloom, together with many two-part sentiments.

So I'll get straight to it with my first card...

I began by stamping the bloom image on some hammered red cardstock and then added some shading with some Copic markers.  With my stamp still in place in my Misti, I restamped the image in VersaMark ink and heat embossed it in gold.  I then die cut around the flower with a stitched rectangle die.  The sentiment from the same set was heat embossed in gold on black cardstock and die cut into a sentiment strip.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - Pure Florals Poinsettia
• Ink: VersaMark
• Coloured with Copic Markers
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Gold Rich
• Dies: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles; MFT Die-namics - Stitched Sentiment Strips

And for my second card I kept it fairly simple, just heat embossing the linear image...

On a die cut panel I stamped and heat embossed the poinsettia bloom using a pink metallic embossing powder.  I stamped the sentiment in white on a raspberry coloured sentiment strip and adhered this on 3D foam.  To finish, I added some pink Stickles to the centre of the flower.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - Pure Florals Poinsettia
• Ink: VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Strawberry Sundae, Opaque Bright White
• Dies: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles; Altenew - Featured Sentiments
• Accents: Stickles - Pink

As always, my teammates are sharing more makes over at the main Uniko blog, here, to showcase this set.  Why not take a look at their individual blogs too, there may be even more projects being shared.

This set, along with all the products being introduced this week will be available from 9am GMT on Sunday 3 November 2024. 

Please do pop back tomorrow if you can when I'll be introducing one of the new products from the release.