Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Mono-printing with Stencils

Morning all, Julie here with some ideas to inspire you to get more from your stencils.

With so much time on my hands at the moment, I decided to have a play with my stencils to create some panels using a couple of mono-print techniques.

Here are two panels I made using a technique I saw Jennifer McGuire use on You Tube. 

I started by inking an A6 panel of white card with lots of Picked Raspberry and Salty Ocean DI. Then I made a hinge with some masking tape and added a plain white A6 panel. Without getting water on the plain panel, I spritzed the inked side then sandwiched the Stylised Floral stencil between and ran it through my die cut machine a few times using the normal die cut set up. Carefully separating the two panels revealed these colourful, fun, textured effects.

Here are a couple of cards I made using each of the panels, I still have a bit left over too for further makes! 

This first card uses a strip of the darker panel slipped behind textured lined panels, a simple stamped, uncoloured small peony bloom from Pure Florals - Peony. I kept it simple and uncoloured so as not to detract from the panel, the sentiment is from Simply Said Blocks.

For the second card I used a panel die cut from the paler print and the same bloom, again not coloured so as not to distract from the background. This time the sentiment from the peony set is stamped on matching linen cardstock.

My final card uses a slightly different technique to create the background. Instead of a piece of white card I added a cut down baby wipe over the stencil in the sandwich and ran it through a few times in the die cut machine as before. This time I rang the changes and used the Fun Flower stencil. The damp baby wipe lifts away the ink where it peeks through the stencil to leave this soft effect. The panel was inked with Tumbled Glass DI this time.

To make the card, I used more sentiments from Pure Floral Peony mounted on deep blue and the small butterfly from English Country Garden, embossed in white on vellum and then die cut. A few clear sparkly sequins complete. The embossed panel was mounted on the same blue card and added to an A6 card base.

That's it from me for this time. I hope I have encouraged you to look at your stencils again, you don't have to use these two, have a play and see what effects you can achieve with what you have.

So until next time, keep safe!

Uniko Brand Ambassador Inspiration: Inspired by Twofer Challenge Card #29~Butterflies...English Country Garden Note and Birthday

Hello,

Carol here, welcoming you to my Uniko Brand Ambassador post, where I'm defaulting to what I do in missing-mojo situations: drawing inspiration from other designers or, in this case, from challenges.  Today, my muse is none other than Twofer Card Challenge #29, where this month's theme is Butterflies!  A perfect opportunity to use the lovely English Country Garden stamps & dies to create two cards, with two different designs, for two different occasions.  

Here they are....

My first card features an alcohol inked background, with some gold alloy added for extra shimmer, as a canvas for a gold-embossed three-layer vellum butterfly. The sentiment, also gold embossed, is from Simply Said.

I am completely (as in totally, full-on) smitten with slimline cards, so I *had* to make one! Here, I prisma pencil coloured three butterflies, die cut and positioned them inside the circles, then added a birthday sentiment from Simply Said.

Here they are again...the shimmer of the alloy and pearlized inks is soooo pretty.

Hopefully, I've inspired you to use your Uniko butterflies in different ways, for different challenges/occasions! They really are wonderfully versatile!

Uniko Studio Design Team Inspiration...Creativity Re-Boot

Hello,

Carol here! Welcome to my Uniko Studio DT showcase, where I bring out a few Uniko favourites for a play date.  

I'm sure we've all had the 'lost mojo' experience and seek various ways to end the start-something/give up cycle. When this happens to me, I 'challenge myself a challenge' - a creativity re-boot -  which is precisely what I've done with the trio of cards I'm sharing here.

My challenge: 

• focus on one key die/stamp combination: English Country Garden Butterfly Collection
• use a limited palette: black/white + green (inspired by the image at TIME OUT Challenge #144, which you can see here)
• use one 6 x 6 sheet of designer paper (sometimes we need to use that stash *grin*). I selected a various shades of green sheet from Pinkfresh Studio
• one occasion: Thanks (sparked by our upcoming Canadian Thanksgiving, but shifting from fall colours/images)
• three cards, inspired by at least two/three challenges (TIME OUT Challenge #144, Freshly Made Sketches #403, CAS(E) this Sketch #340). I've missed entering in a couple, but that's okay...it's the 'doing' that counts! 
• go CAS! 

So...here are my results:

Card 1: 

Small butterfly from English Country Garden Butterfly Collection

Sentiment from All Occasion Sentiments

Inspired by CAS(E) this Sketch #340);

 Card 2: 

Large butterfly from English Country Garden Butterfly Collection

Sentiment from Simply Said

Inspired by Freshly Made Sketches #403

Card 3:

Large butterfly die only from English Country Garden Butterfly Collection

Sentiment from Simply Said

Background from Tropical Paradise

Inspired by: me *grin*

I'd love to know how you re-boot your creativity!

Thank you for dropping by!

~c

DT inspiration - Getting inspired with challenges

Bonjour !

Izzy here. I hope you are all well after this summer break. Here, a new school year has just started last Monday and so the weekly routine too !

Anyway, I had some time to play in my craft room and today I wanted to share with you the cards I made with the English Country Garden : Butterflies set and its matching dies.

Last month I showed you how I get inspired by the things that surrounded me. This time, for my choices of designs and/or colours, I've been inspired by several currently underway challenges. It's a game I love to play with : to combine several challenges together.

The idea of my first card comes from the Time Out challenge and the word "Rainbow" in their quote...

I stamped all the butterflies in different colours and I cut them with the matching die. Then I place them on my card. Once happy with their placement, I fixed them together with masking tape doing a grid that I placed in my Big Shot with an oval die on top. 

With the masking tape, all the little bits stay attached so I turned them upside down to put adhesive foam behind. Once all covered, I placed them back on the double white card, pressing a little bit to be sure they all adhered well. Then I took off the masking tape and I cut along the edges the parts that go beyond.

The sentiment comes from the Beautiful set.

This results in the second card with the remaining parts of the cutout of the first card...

For this card the sentiment comes from the Simply Said II set.

For my third card I get inspired by the AAA Cards sketch and the colours of the Addicted to CAS challenge...

Once again the butterflies were stamped and cut with the matching die, then I adhered them with glue dots. The sentiment comes from the Flower Power #8 set

My last card is a combo of the Freshly made Sketch and the Colour Throwdown challenges...

For this card, I used the Pure Florals : Peony set to make part of the sketch. I stamped the peony in dark blue over an an iridescent cream card. And this time I used the bigger butterfly of the set.

I stamped it with Versafine blue ink over the same iridescent cream cardstock. The only colours I had in my stash to match the ones of Colour Throwdown were Distress inks. So I tried to use them on this paper as watercolour. And I'm so happy they reacted perfectly with this kind of paper and it even gives a beautiful shimmer to the colours.

You may have a better look on this picture...

For this card, I used a sentiment from the Simply Said Blocks set. 

Et voilà ! That's another way to get inspired for making cards. You will find more details on the inks used on my blog. 

Thanks so much for popping by and have a fabulous day !

DT inspiration, A Stamped, See Through Card

Hi Julie here with a little bit of DT inspiration this Sunday. 

I was inspired to make this card for my daughter's birthday after seeing this video, being on the sick list earlier this year allowed me far too much time to watch You Tube videos! 

She love's butterflies and purple and turquoise colours so that's the route I went down.

Jennifer McGuire calls the technique stamped see through cards as you can literally see through the front panel!

This is how I went about the construction. 

There are a lot of steps but the end result is worth it, I think.

1. Cut a piece of scrap paper to 5 and a half x 7 and a half inches.
2. Using some white card cut a piece 5 x 7 inches and a small top folding card 3 and a quarter x 4 and a half inches.
3. From more of the same white card cut a few of both large and small butterflies from the English Country Garden dies. Retain the outer so that you can use it as a jig to stamp your butterflies more easily, works well especially with a MISTI.
4. Place the die cut outer in your MISTI and then the stamps in the opening, close the door. Open and then place your die cut back into the space and stamp with black ink.
5. Keep stamping until you have sufficient to cover your card front.
6. Repeat the process with the Original Organics Additions stamps and dies. I used two of the large hearts and a few of the single sprays. 
7. Colour as required, I used my Zig watercolour brushes.
8. Arrange your foliage and butterflies over the scrap paper, overlapping as you go. The more overlaps the sturdier your card front will be. Jennifer McGuire uses Gladwrap Press n Seal at this point but not having any, I had to secure with low tack masking tape. Trim away the overhang.
9. Remove scrap paper and secure each overlap with strong glue until you have a complete panel. Remove all tape  and carefully score a line about 1/2 inch from the top. This is your hinge.
10. Trim the panel to be slightly less than 5 inches wide, just enough to create a narrow border against the white back panel. Hook the fold over the back panel and using strong glue, attach the front. (If you use tape tap a little talc on the exposed tape so that it won't stick to the envelope!) Trim the top panel to match the back if needed.
11. To make the greeting panel, cut a piece of matching coloured card stock and a white frame using stacking dies. I used a die cut greeting from my stash but you could stamp and heat emboss one in white if you wish. Attach to the card front.
12. On the small top folding card stamp the greeting on the inside, I used Birthday Wishes and glue to your panel of 5 x 7 card. This allows you to write your greeting and not spoil the effect from the front.

And that's about it.

I know that seems a lot of effort but it does make a really special card. Perhaps save it for that special person or occasion!

So there you have it, hope I've inspired you to try something a little different.