Hello there! Happy New Year to all of you. 2015 was a really busy year with many great and not so great things. Pretty much just a normal summary of Life. 

For 2016 I have a few resolutions. 

• My One Little Word this year is "relax"; I would like to get this hand-lettered and framed so that I can remember to take a step back and enjoy what is actually going on around me; and also as a reminder to work smarter and not harder
• I am going to card and blog more in 2016; and it's really not hard to do seeing what a lack luster job I did last year. However, when I get together with my favorite girls and craft all weekend I realize how much I miss this.
• To make sure I get a balance of things done that I want to get done for *myself*, I'm going to try bullet journaling; if it works out, I might post it on here (you see what i did there? very non-committal...;) 

It is Fusion's Second Birthday and their design team member Betty invited me along. So make sure to stop by the Fusion Card Challenge blog and leave some hugs and love on their blog for continuing this inspiration challenge.

I finally broke and got my first supplies of Winnie & Walter stamps and am so smitten with their designs. And when I received my beautiful shipment of stamps, it was all wrapped up with a nice personalized tag and a little small surprise. Small businesses that really care about the details really impress me. And it's not like this is the first stint; they have been around since 2013, I believe? What a lovely company, and I hope to meet Julie & Shay one day (and their cute dogs).

For me, getting back into making that first cards is always difficult to make, especially when I haven't crafted in a long time. It's being a newbie all over again. But that's why sketch and inspirations prompts are great to get my creative juices flowing in a focused direction.

This card is also inspired and in memory of my dear friend Leslie (aka The Crooked Stamper) who I love with all my heart.

Supplies
will be updated

Share Handmade Kindness

Hello Blogland... It's high time to dust off the three foot of dust that has accumulating. I haven't touched this blog in months, it almost feels like learning how to ride a bike again. But thanks to Google's intuitive WYSIWYG interface, it's not too bad (minus the photo editing...coughcough).

Thanks to my brilliant, honest friend Leslie I found the courage to dig this old blog up and make a re-appearance. She pointed me to this great page called Blogging without Obligation. And I love how Leslie reminded me that if I feel like jumping in I should just jump back in, and not blog for the sakes of blogging. Or feel like I need to apologize. Or feel guilty. Or obligated to explain. Or feel overwhelmed or anxious to start again ... or whatever reason there may be...?

So here is my one reason to resurface...

Have you heard of this Jennifer McGuire? I'm sure you have. If not, go check out her blog and her Instagram feed. I'm so lucky to be able to say that I have met her a handful of times now, and she is truly one of the most kindest, generous and humblest person I know. Not to mention funny and wise and open to share any good advice. This #sharehandmadekindness campaign really embodies who she is as a person and I absolutely love how she is using the reach of her audience to create an impact - to spread more kindness, more caring, more love, and to bring awareness to the Kind Campaign - a campaign to end bullying. Yes!

Thank you for doing this, Jennifer. Thank you for infecting us to share kindness through our craft. 

She's also packed up some kits made with love and these two stamp sets from Hero Arts are quickly becoming my go-to sets. They are sitting out here and have been winking at me to get my craft back on. And for every purchase made of these stamp sets, 25% of the profits go to the Kind Campaign.

Pssst - Simon Says Stamps has them in stock.

Here is my card using this stamp set

I felt inspired to play along in Ka's Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge. Here is the board in case you haven't seen it and want to play along as well.

I chose OneLayer - Embossing - Kraft; right down the middle. One Layer cards are always a challenge for me, but I thought I would add interest by building lots of layers onto the card. I heat-embossed the white sentiment onto the card and then started adding layers: stamped Distress Ink Tea-Dye across the card, added layer of acrylic white paint, followed by stenciling small brown hearts by scattering them across the card. I also added some shadow into the sentiment with the Zig Wink of Stella Fine Glitter Dust Gold pen and liked how that turned out; to add more gold accents I added a few more gold hearts using the stencil again and then wiped a bit of Viva Decor Champagne as a small shimmery finish.

I find One-layer cards super challenging but I love how they carry in the mail :) I'm off to send this card to a friend...

Supplies
Stamps: (Acts of Kindness) Hero Arts
Paper: (Kraft) Papertrey Ink
Ink: (Hero Hues Pigment Ink - Unicorn) Hero Arts; (Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Tea-dye) Ranger 
Embellishments: (Artists' Acrylics Basic Color Set - Titanium White) Utrecht; (Zig Wink of Stella Fine Glitter Dust - Gold) Kuretake; (Precision Pen 01 - Brown) American Crafts; (6x6 Stencil - Tiny Spaced Hearts) Simon Says Stamps; (Inka Gold - Champagne) Viva Decor

[Uniko Studio] Challenge No. 14 -

We have a lovely challenge today on the Uniko Studio blog. Yep, still trying to get back into the swing of things and still being slow at making a card.

Photo Credit: Design Seed

And our theme this challenge is Clean and Simple. I completely bombed this challenge, but at least I sort of tried to follow the color palette.



I decided to whip out one of the newer Uniko Studio sets Big & Bold Wish. When the sentiments cover up the entire card, it become a nice focal point and I love that it will stand out so well. All we need is a die for that *hint hint Bev* to cut it out nicely.

To create a background I decided to stamp the candles in Versamark and clear embossed them. I then took some Inka Gold Turquoise metallic color, diluted it with water and decided to color the candles in. It behaves similar to water color when it is diluted, only that the color is metallic and shiny. After it tried, I also rubbed it down with some paper towel to polish to a shine. It's one of the special properties of this medium. See the shimmer?



I think one happy accident is that the clear embossed candles came out metallic and almost gold after applying the Inka Gold Turquoise. I also like how rocking the huge sentiment onto the ink pad and applying more on the top gives it a bit of an ombre effect. My purple happens to be a pigment ink.

One last "upcycled" item on this card is the tissue paper. It was lying around and came with a gift that I unwrapped, but thought I would use the gold stars in something sooner or later. So when I read the sentiment "Upon a Star" it gave me right shove to use it up. I accordion folded the tissue paper and the messily adhered it with some liquid glue.



I was thinking of running my sewing machine over the tissue paper portion, but turns out that my sewing machine is still packed away. So I better just let it be ;) Not as clean and simple as it could be, but still a fun card.

Please also check out the rest of the girl's cards and leave them a sweet comment or two. Remember you don't have to use all the colors - any or all as an inspiration.

Lastly, a few helpful things to remember:

• Challenge ends Oct 14th, 2014, 11:59p BST; Check back for the winners after
• Prize is £10 Gift Certificate to the random Winner & a Guest Design spot on our following challenge
• Three people will win a spotlight
• We would like you to use a Uniko Studio product; If you don't have any, check out the freebies here

I hope to see you play along, so that I can pop in on your lovely blogs! See you soon.

Supplies
Stamps: (Big & Bold Wish) Uniko Studio
Paper: (Fresh Linen, Plum Pudding) Papertrey Ink
Ink: (Jenni Bowlin - No. 9 Spice Tin) Ranger; (Versamark) Tsukineko; (Eggplant) Mama Elephant
Embellishments: (Inka Gold - Turquoise) Viva Decor; (Creative Cuts - Femme Frames) Mama Elephant; (Stamp 'n Stuff Embossing Powder - Detailed Clear) Stampendous!; (Tissue Paper) recycle stash;

[Uniko Studio] September Revisited Blog Hop - Peace On Earth

Hello everyone! It has been forever since I have made a card. And it took me ever so long to come up with one. We won't ask how long, since it would be too embarrassing. With all this wedding-schmedding-palooza, I haven't really had a chance to get creative and I feel like the creative muse has left me high and dry - probably frustrated that when I did get hit with an idea, I never sat down to do it, or worst, not even write it down. Instead I just steamrollered on with my mass production craziness and kept telling her to leave me alone...Well serves me right. So just be gentle when looking at this card...:)

This month we are re-visiting a set, just in time to start thinking of the holiday (oh dear, another mass production in sight!) Peace on Earth. I love how this gem of a set is only $8 and has some great elements to make an arsenal of cards.

I decided to see if i could convince the branch to be a wreath. So I gathered up all the green inks that I have in my tiny ink collection and went to work.



I stamped a complete circle first, and then tried to find the right sizes in my Spellbinder Small Circle die to cut out a "wreath." Since I wanted this more for dimension, I knew I had to fill in the white space with a bit more green stamping. This is where all the shades of green came into. With a bit of offset here and there, some stamping off and then stamping, I was able to stamp onto the cut out circle as well as the base card stock.



I have a ton of sequins in my stash, so I thought it would be appropriate to pop them onto the wreath. The dove is embossed in gold, shaded with color pencil and Gamsol, and then popped onto the wreath. Any of the sentiments work quite well here, and I was debating about stamping it in the center or on the bottom edge of the card. Here the card again slightly angled so that you can see the dimension that the wreath gives this card.



Hope you feel inspired with some samples. Bev is going to draw a winner for this lovely stamp set or a gift card of equivalent value. You have until 11:59p BST September 25 to leave comments along the blogs. In the meantime, I'm sending you off to fabulous, amazing Taheerah. Here the whole list for easy navigation ...

• Uniko Studio Blog (Bev)
• Amber
• Erika
• Gillian
• N@ Ali
• Nicki
• Ren-Yi (you are here)
• Taheerah

I hope you like what you're seeing. Again, be gentle. I feel like a newbie, but hope to get back into the swing of things!

Stamps: (Peace on Earth) Uniko Studio
Paper: (Rustic White, Kraft, Basic White) Papertrey Ink
Ink: (Jenni Bowlin - No. 6 Stick Candy) Ranger; (Versamark; Mememto - Tuxedo Black) Tsukineko; (Shadow Ink - Forever Green) Hero Arts; (Creative Color - Mojito) Mama Elephant
Embellishments: (Creative Cuts - Femme Frames) Mama Elephant; (Embossing Powder - Gold) Ranger; (Sequins - Raspberry Red Satin) Neat & Tangled

[Uniko Studio] Challenge No. 11 - A Little Something...

Hi everyone - I can't believe the amazing turn-out on the last challenge. I hope we see a bunch of entries like we had last time. Let' see what you think of this month's challenge and color combo...

Photo Credit: Design Seed

And our theme this challenge is Happy Birthday. I decided to pull out a fun, older Background Builders: Squared set.



I only inked up a portion of the squares on my bock and then masked off any parts to make sure I got a nice clean 8x8 grid - stamped it a total of 4 times and lined them up. A tip is to take your time when lining them up. I absolutely love clear stamps exactly for this reason. I also wanted to color the grid in both violet and blue hues (for some reason, I only remembered the violet geode rock from the picture - and that's what I went with ;)

I wanted to play around with some mosaic and tiling concept, picked 2 hues of blue and 2 hues of violet. Then I added some interest by shading in each square slightly different.



The card is finished by adding a little wood veneer piece that I inked up with some pigment ink and then placed as a visual and spatial break, followed by a simple sentiment. Voila and I call it done!



Please also check out the rest of the girl's cards and leave them a sweet comment or two. Remember you don't have to use all the colors - any or all as an inspiration.

Lastly, a few helpful things to remember:

• Challenge ends Jul 14th, 2014, 11:59p BST; Check back for the winners after
• Prize is £10 Gift Certificate to the random Winner & a Guest Design spot on our following challenge
• Three people will win a spotlight
• We would like you to use a Uniko Studio product; If you don't have any, check out the freebies here

I hope to see you play along, so that I can pop in on your lovely blogs! See you soon.

Background Builders: Squared -	A Gift For You	Papertrey Ink - Paper Basics - Stamper's Select White Cardstock (40 Sheets)	Perfect Match Enchanted Evening Cardstock (50 sheets)
*Tsukineko MEMENTO Full Size Ink Pad TUXEDO BLACK	Mama Elephant Creative Color EGGPLANT Ink Pad ME-EGG	*Prismacolor PREMIER COLORED PENCILS 72	*Studio Calico TRIANGLES & DIAMONDS Wood Veneer Shapes Darling Dear 331219

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Danielle's Special Delivery Blog Hop - Special Delivery

Hello there - today is a special blog hop for a special someone. Danielle from Neat & Tangled is one the sweetest persons I have ever met. And we are getting together to celebrate her sweet self and the delivery of Baby Everlyn. I can't wait to see pictures! And all the best wishes to you, Danielle, and the rest of the family.

You should be hopping over from talented, amazing Christine Drogt, who organized all of this!

Initially I wanted to make a card with lots of Neat & Tangled products, but I started to make a baby onesie and ended up making a card to match. Here it is

This onesie is super easy to make. Just find a shape as a template, adhere some heat bond to the fabric, trace around it and then you have yourself a fun appliqué. Then just iron the appliqué onto the onesie. If anyone is interested, i can make a tutorial... it's so easy peasy and we used this technique at the recent baby shower I organized.



I ended up making a matching card out of complimentary fabric. This fabric is just glued down onto some card stock, and then onto some wood veneer pattern paper. The rest is just some fun white doodling to go along with the white sentiment. So that's all from my side. Your next stop is Miriam Prantner - another amazing, talented designer. She even designed a few sets for Neat & Tangled ;)



Here the entire blog list in its entirety for easy of navigation...

• Neat and Tangled 
• Amy Kolling
• Jessica Pascarella
• Evgenia Petzer
• Ashley Marcu
• Yana Smakula
• Linda Trace
• June Houck
• Betty J.
• Amy Tsuruta
• Anna Kossakovskaya
• Barb Murphy
• Tracy Ercole
• Mary Dawn Quirindongo
• Heather Ruwe
• Mayuri
• Christine Drogt
• Ren-Yi Lo (you are here)
• Miriam Prantner

Hope you enjoyed hopping along on this fun occasion!

[Uniko Studio] June 2014 Release - Release Day

Hello Uniko Studio fans - are you ready for the big day? Uniko Studio is releasing four fabulous stamp sets today. Here are the four in it's entirety.

Hopefully you're hopping over from Nicki's fabulous creations... if not, start at the beginning at Bev's blog, because you don't want to miss out on prizes and inspirations.

First up, Classic Alphabet set, where the frames can be use by itself to make a pattern, or to use with the alphabet to make monogrammed, personalized cards. Or just spell out fun things (see project for today).

Then English Country Garden - Butterflies is another lovely must-have. The largest butterfly measures 2.75" x 2" whereas the small ones measure 1.5" x 1".

Flower Power #5 is the newest family member to the Flower Power series, and I love the series of Thank You sentiments. Wouldn't it pair up nicely with the frame from the Classic Alphabet set?

The last and one of the most stunning sets Bev has ever designed is a beautiful hummingbird image. The bird measures 3.5" x 2.75" and there are two wonderful sentiments to go along with this set. The flowers can easily be used to also create a beautiful background pattern.

So for today's Design Team blog hop, I have created a simple card using the Classic Alphabet set. And I decided to jump onto the nautical trend...



So here is very straight forward card with some washi, die cutting some circles and stamping the frame out. It's easy enough to fill in the border of the frame to give the frame and alphabets a different look. And when in doubt, just add Wink of Stella.



You are off to *amazing* *talented* *i wanna be her when i grow up* Taheerah ;)

Here the entire blog list in its entirety for easy of navigation...

• Amber
• Erika
• Gillian
• N@ Ali
• Nicki
• Ren-Yi
• Taheerah
• Guest Designer Lynn

Remember that Bev is going to draw prizes. You have until 11:59p BST Jun 15 to comment. 

(I'll add a supply list by the end of the week - things have just been super crazy here - thanks for understanding)

[Uniko Studio] June 2014 Release - Introducing Paradise - Hummingbird

Hello Uniko Studio fans - thank for all your blog love and sweet comments. I hope you're enjoying the samples so far by the team. So what do you think about this month's release so far? Are you excited? What is your favorite set so far?

Before you make any decisions on your favorite, we're going to show you the last of four sets being released this month.

I decided to work with an unassuming part for yesterday's sneak peek set. So today I thought I'd work with an obvious part of the sneak peek. You know, just to change it up a bit ;)

Is there a kind of card that you dread making? I have one particular kind: for me they are sympathy cards. And I know those are the ones that people need the most, but I don't really know how to express my empathy. Probably because I dread writing something inside of them. What do you say? How do you take the pain or loss away from someone? Most of the words sound so generic, mass-produced, repeated... But alas, when friends of yours lose someone, the right thing is to send them a card and let them know your thoughts are with them. And I have been procrastinating on the ones I should be sending  :*(

So here is my very simple (and yet not very simple) sympathy card.

I tried photographing this card on white background and it was not very flattering. And the best light in the middle of the night is unfortunately the undergoing kitchen space. But hopefully you get the gist with this card.

It's simple and effective: Versafine Onyx Black on White card stock. It's back to the very beginning where I bought my first black ink pad, bought myself some white card stock, and a clear stamp set...And yet, it can be quite striking, and impacting. What do you think?

I started by making my own frame. I cut a panel to 5.25" x 4". Then measured from each edge 3/8" and made a light pencil park. Then I took a fine liner black pen and drew my frame. After that I took my Prismacolor Double-ended Art Marker and made a thicker border. The next part is to mask off the borders to stamp the bird inside the frame. I decided to use some handy dandy washi tape that was lying around and made sure to tape the edge right up and onto the border, like so...



One humming bird stamped, one sharp craft knife, and one hour later, and here is the finished product up close.



To come to think of it, it looks like the sneak peek all over again, doesn't it? But I assure you this one is not a digital file ;) Also another great tip is to use a black marker, fine liner or the brush tip of your Copics, and run it around along the cut edge. It's very hard to cut cleanly, and the cross section of the card stock is white when you cut into it. So running that marker along the cut area jet finishes off the bird more cleanly. 

Just a word of warning that this card is not a quick one, and the tiny bits and pieces are slow to cut out. But I'd like to think it's worth your while.

Hope you liked this rather serious card. I just wanted to show you another aspect how to use your stamps even for those sombre occasion. Make sure to stop by the other girls' blog to see some more upbeat version of this stamp set. 

And make sure to stop by tomorrow, because it's finally Release Day here at Uniko Studio. I'll have something new whipped up by then...Ta for now.

Papertrey Ink - Paper Basics - Stamper's Select White Cardstock (40 Sheets)

*VersaFine ONYX BLACK Ink Pad Pigment

Flower Power #1 Clear Stamps -

Prismacolor Marker Pm98 Black

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[Uniko Studio] June 2014 Release - Introducing English Country Garden - Butterflies

Hi everyone - if you're stumbling onto this blog post, we are in the midst of our Uniko Studio release and we're introducing the second of four sets being released this month.

I really am loving this set. Just by its name it sounds divine: English Country Garden - Butterflies. Bev has released a pretty lovely Butterfly set and die in the past, but this one has some fantastic details. It has three butterfly images, and a lovely phrase. All the girls on the design team are already begging for the matching dies.

I decided to pull out the biggest butterfly image and stamp the image on Versamark on vellum. And embossed it in white. I kind of had a stained glass in mind, and here is the finished product.

Then I pulled some inks out and went to town coloring this little butterfly. I also dropped some Heidi Swapp Gold color shine onto white rustic card stock. Here is an up close picture of the butterfly and I may like how it came out ;)



I decided to adhere the butterfly onto a strip of scrap pattern paper and Moonlight Lavender card stock. (I will eventually remember from which collection this came from, and will update the supplies list.) The panel is then adhered on a white card stock made with gold washi strips. 

Here is a work in progress with the washi gold strip background.



A quick tip: I lined my first washi strip across the longest diagonal line. Then I worked from the middle towards the outside one strip at a time. This ensures that my strips are straight and at the right angle.



Hope you liked this little card. We will be back tomorrow for another preview of another set being released. See you then?

*Love My Tapes GOLD Japanese Washi Tape	Papertrey Ink - Perfect Match Lavender Moon Cardstock (50 Sheets)	Papertrey Ink - Paper Basics - Rustic White Cardstock (50 Sheets)	Papertrey Ink - Paper Basics - Stamper's Select White Cardstock (40 Sheets)
A Gift For You	*VersaFine ONYX BLACK Ink Pad Pigment	Simon Says Stamp Premium Dye Ink Pad SLATE Gray	*Tim Holtz DISTRESS INK PAD PEACOCK FEATHERS Ranger SPRING
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad TUMBLED GLASS Blue Ranger TIM27188	*Hero Arts Shadow Ink Pad BUTTER BAR Mid-Tone 2012 AF207	*Jenni Bowlin For Ranger CHICKEN FEED DYE INK PAD JBP28543	*Jenni Bowlin For Ranger LEMON DROPS DYE INK PAD
*Jenni Bowlin For Ranger LAVENDER SACHET DYE INK PAD	*Versamark WATERMARK Rubber Stamp Emboss Chalk Resist INK PAD	*Stampendous STAMP N STUFF Fine Opaque White Embossing Powder DP100	Marvy Uchida - Decocolor Liquid Gold Paint Marker Extra Fine
Heidi Swapp GOLD LAME Color Shine 00791	Papertrey Ink - Paper Basics - Stamper's Select Vellum Cardstock (24 Sheets)

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