BA Inspiration, a couple of ideas for those tricky to make cards

 Hi, Julie here with a couple of cards for those tricky to make occasions.

Sadly last week I received news that one of my neighbours from our old street had tragically passed away far too soon, after a long battle with cancer. It's never a good time and often your mojo goes out of the window so I like to have a few cards in the stash for such occasions. Well, despite my best efforts the card I had in mind was damaged so I decided to make another in short shrift! So using the original as a template, I came up with this based on a card I'd seen by the fab Therese Calvird.

Using Pure Florals-Lily, I stamped the large bloom in grey ink and then coloured using Copic markers. To make the focal point of this A5 card, I die cut the bloom from the panel twice using a couple of circle dies to create the border.  The central panel was then glued onto my card. The raised section was made using the same dies and some white fun foam which I stuck behind the coloured border which I added, matching the pattern. A simple white embossed sentiment on black completes.

Over at Color Hues there is a colour challenge to use copper and green, looking at the sympathy card, I think I could have used that but I decided to make this card, showing that Christmas stamps are not just for Christmas!

I know many of you struggle with masculine cards. So one of my tips is to go CAS and foliage is a great way to get a masculine feel too. Here I've used Season of Beauty and Winter Botanicals Sweet Broom to create the focal point. The solid stamping was done in shades of green from Altenew's  Tropical Forest set and the outline from Winter Botanicals- Sweet Broom, was stamped with Versamark and embossed with Copper EP. The sentiment was stamped in the darkest shade of green to compliment the arrangement.

So that's all from me for the moment but I hope I've given you a couple of ideas for those often difficult to make cards.

Happy crafting

Merry Monday, BA Inspiration featuring Season of Beauty

 Morning all, Julie here with a couple of cards using the Season of Beauty stamp set.

The other day I was browsing You Tube when I came across a set of cards made using a poinsettia stamp by Jennifer McGuire and it got me to thinking that I could use her layout to create a card using the poinsettia and foliage from the Season of Beauty set. So here are a couple I made, more or less the same but slightly different because of the technique used, as well as using different sentiments.

In the video here, Jennifer uses a faux watercolour technique and a homemade ink pad and reinkers but I don't have any reinkers so I chose to use DIs and Zig watercolour markers.

To make the poinsettias, I chose the solid image from the set and placed it in my MISTI, along with a panel of white card. The card was positioned so that by turning the panel I could stamp two images, waste not want not! For my first card I used Zig watercolour markers to ink the stamp and spritzed with a fine mist of water before stamping. I repeated this until I was happy with the finished flower, using about 3 different reds. The center, the actual flowers, were stamped with a mix of 2 yellow markers. 

On another panel of white card, slightly narrower than a standard A6 panel, I arranged some of the foliage stamps along with some of the leaves and repeated the process, this time using a mix of 3 greens. When my poinsettia was dry, I fussy cut it and glued the center of the image over the foliage. 

My sentiment was stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with gold EP. 

To complete, I glued the panel to an A6 top fold card and added a thin strip of gold linen effect card to the edge and some punched circles from the same card to the center of the poinsettia.

The second card was done in much the same way but this time I used Altenew inks for the reds and DIs for the greens. For the foliage I added DI onto an acrylic block and used this to add colour to the stamps as well as adding it straight to the stamp from the pad. I also added some red to the front of the card and a different sentiment from the set.

I do like the faux watercolour effect you get by spritzing the stamp before stamping but as you can see on the first card too much water will let the ink bleed. The layout is one I think I will use again, not just for Christmas cards, it would work just as well for any Floral image and not necessarily the faux watercolour technique.

That's all from me today but I hope I've given you some inspiration for your Christmas makes.

Keep crafting and I'll be back soon!

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Monochrome Silhouettes

Good morning

Anita here and today I have three same but different cards, all using silhouette stamps and paired with the Pinstripe Background Blocks.

These were pretty quick to make and are one layer, apart from the sentiment strips and gems.  And for the first time I used Distress Oxide inks to stamp with.  They aren't the easiest to work with as they can be quite juicy but I chose them as I thought they would create better coverage of the silhouettes over the stripes, but what do I know...it didn't actually work!  The lighter colours ended up showing through but I do actually like that effect even though it wasn't what I was going for!  Hey, every day is a school day in the crafting world! 

So, here's the first one, using coral shades...

I began by stamping the Background Blocks Pinstripe II image in Saltwater Taffy Distress Oxide ink and, once dry, I stamped the foliage silhouette from the Just Because set in Abandoned Coral.  This took a few re-stamps using my Misti, lots of light layers is key with these inks.  I then added a sentiment from the Simply Said Blocks II set and some co-ordinating jewels finished the design.

You can see below how the lighter shade of ink showed through the darker shade, I think it gives a kind of 'looking through some blinds' effect!

My second card is in teal tones...

For this one I used the vertical stripes, the Background Blocks Pinstripe image, as my backdrop which was stamped in Salvaged Patina Distress Oxide.  The foliage silhouette this time is from the Season of Beauty stamp set, and I used Peacock Feathers.  The sentiment is from Simply Said Blocks and, once again, I finished with some co-ordinating jewels.

And finally, in shades of blue...

This time, the Background Blocks Pinstripe II image was stamped in Salty Ocean Distress Ink, and the foliage, from the Happy Days set was stamped in Prize Ribbon.  The sentiment is from Simply Said Blocks II and again, the blue jewels were added as a finishing touch.

So there you have it, three quick and easy, clean and simple cards with no complicated techniques.  Thanks for taking a look, have a lovely Tuesday.

 

Merry Mid Century Modern Monday!

Hello & Happy Shiny New Week.

I thought I would kick off the week with a festive Mid Century Modern make. I've had this sparkly Mid Century Modern Squares background made for a while and it has just been sat waiting for the perfect addition.

Then on Saturday it came to me that I hadn't inked up Season Of Beauty for a while and that the layered poinsettias and foliage would look lovey against the dark sparkly background.

It's a little busier than my usual CAS style, but I think the sparkly background adds to the festive feel. What do you think?

I used Gina K Glitz Glitter Gel through the Stencil and I used Concord & 9th inks in Cranberry, Poppy, Honeysuckle, Evergreen & Wheat for the stamping. I kept the card sentiment free as I felt that would have been a bit much, instead I will stamp the sentiment inside the card.

It's a fun and busy week in the studio, lots of designing new products for 2023 and so many exciting things happening for Uniko next year too ;) That's all I can say for now! 

I'll be back later this week.

Crafty Hugs 

Two for Tuesday, BA Inspiration

 Good afternoon, Julie here with two cards on Tuesday!

I was inspired by the sketch over at The Paper Players to create two cards using the same sketch, colours but different themes.

Here are the two I came up with.

Here's a closer look at the first card.

I love a sketch, they are a great way to get inspired when your mojo is not quite working as it should!

For this I started by stamping the small outline rose and two of the leaflets in Versamark and embossing with gold EP. Using some Candied Apple, Mowed Lawn, and Pealed Paint DI smooshed onto my craft mat, I water coloured before fussy cutting out. A little shadow was added using one of my Zig watercolour markers.

The central strip was stamped using a selection of Simply Said sentiments in Altenew Evening Gray on a strip of paper, before adding to an A6 base card. A piece of textured white card from my stash was mounted onto some gold card and the Floral Vines sentiment was added and embossed with the same gold EP. The rose spray was then added to the top panel and attached over the central strip.

My second card uses the poinsettia from Season of Beauty, Christmas Sentiments and the Winter Foliage stencil.

The central panel was a leftover from an other project yet to see the light of day and perfect for this card. After stencilling over kraft with Unicorn white ink, I cleaned the stencil and then when the white ink was dry, I inked again with DI, love the white shadow you get with this technique.

The poinsettia was stamped with Versamark then embossed with gold EP, bracts and flower center were then added. Using the same water colour technique and colours as the first, I then fussy cut it out when dry. 

This time I used a plain white panel for my sentiment, adding the fussy cut image in the left hand corner before adding the whole over the central band.

Two cards using the same sketch, colours but different looks. I think it's a layout that will come in handy again as I think it's very versatile. 

So that's it from me for the moment, hope I've inspired you to create something for yourself along the same lines.

Until next time, keep safe and keep crafting!

Hello October, World Card Making Day AND a Winner!

Hello October 🎃

Happy Saturday and Happy World Card Making Day.

I couldn't let the day pass without making and sharing a card! I managed to squeeze in this card between dropping The Beans at a birthday party and before I had to pick them up, amongst getting a few house jobs done in that time too! 

I am obsessed with the Stencil - Mid Century Modern Shapes. I just love coming up with new layering options and using different colours. 

For this card I selected the Altenew Natures Wonders Collection, I think the shades are very Autumnal and I decided to pair the largest sprig from Season Of Beauty with the shapes. Plus I selected this sentiment as it really is an all season sentiment and not just for Christmas. I really do think you can find joy in all the seasons. 

Okay, so how about a winner for The Stamping Together Festival tickets and £10 spend at the Uniko stand. I know a lot of followers here and across social media aren't able to attend, so keep your eyes peeled for another giveaway soon! 

Congratulations Angie D you are the lucky winner! 

I will forward your name to the organisers, so your name is on the door for you and your guest. Please come and see me at Uniko to claim your £10 spend 😊 

Hope you have all had a lovely day & have found some crafty time like me! 

Crafty Hugs

Festive Friday, BA Inspiration using Winter Foliage

Good morning, Julie here with a little bit of inspiration for your Christmas makes. 

Here are a couple of ideas using foliage stamps from Winter Foliage and Season of Beauty.

My first card was inspire by those turnabout stamp sets you can get but without using the jig and no masking!!!

I drew a circle in pencil roughly in the position I would later place my sentiment panel on an A6 panel of white card and stamped a variety of foliage in various green inks. I used some really old foliage stamps that are now sadly retired, Nature's Treasures 1 as well as the two newer sets to get a variety of textures no masking was required here. I simply used my MISTI, stamped one branch of the evergreen bough, then rotated my panel 180' and repeated. I did the rest of the green foliage the same but added the red berries, Season of Beauty and Winter Foliage free hand.  The berry stems were stamped in brown before colouring the berries with Copic marker, the holly berries I simply stamped and then shaded with a darker Copic marker. A few dots of white gel pen complete.

When dry, I rubbed out my pencil circle and added the central panel. I found the die cut circle in my bits box, used the sentiment from Christmas Wishes stamped in black ink and simply covered up the messy bit in the middle by gluing it flat onto the panel!

This second card was inspired by the latest sketch at CAS Colours and Sketches.

This time I cut a mask from a Post it note and then used the same die to emboss my A6 white panel.

I then added the mask and stamped the holly leaves and evergreen foliage. I stamped the holly berries and a couple of pine cones and used the dies to cut them out. The evergreen boughs were coloured in with a couple of green pencil crayons as were the veins on the holly leaves for extra interest.

Removing the mask, I stamped the sentiment from Season of Beauty in Versamark and embossed in gold EP before adding the berries and cones with glue.

So that's it from me for this month, hope I've given you a couple of ideas to kick start your Christmas makes if you haven't started!

Stay safe and keep crafting 'til next time.

Merry Monday, BA Inspiration using Winter Foliage and Christmas Wishes

 Good afternoon, Julie here with a little festive inspiration for you. 

I was inspired by the latest challenge at CAS Christmas Card Challenge and a video I saw on You Tube. In the video the designer used homemade coloured card to create batch Christmas cards and the ladies at CAS Christmas have the cue word Pine, so off I went!

Initially I got out all my sets which included pine branches but mainly used the large pine branch from Winter Foliage to create my two cards. Here are my designs.

My first step was to create my coloured panels. I did this by washing a selection of festive and neutral coloured DIs over some panels of white card, smooshing the leftover ink onto the panels to use up the ink and create some subtle texture. Once these had dried overnight under a heavy weight to flatten the panels, I used two of the neutral panels to create my cards.

CARD 1

The soft grey panel was created using Hickory Smoke DI and I stamped the large branch from Winter Foliage with Versamark along the edge, embossing with white EP. A few of the gaps were stamped with the smaller pine branch from Season Of Beauty. The panel was then trimmed down from A6 to leave a border when added to my dark silver grey A6 card base and the sentiment from Christmas Wishes added to match. For decoration on the boughs, I used some old silver crystals from Home Bargains, that I coloured with Copics and attached them to my branches. The soft colours complement the grey and white of the base.

CARD 2

This time my background panel was made using Old Paper DI which I inked over with the Winter Foliage stencil and the same Old Paper DI and glued to an A6 base card.

From a panel made using Pine Needles DI I cut two branches using the Winter Foliage dies and stamped the foliage in Evergreen Bough DI a couple of times. I used a handmade jig, simply a piece of rectangular card with a die cut aperture, in my MISTI to make sure the die cut stayed in place. 

The bauble was cut using a circle die from a panel of card made using Festive Berries DI. I did 2 layers of red as the initial covering as it wasn't quite dark enough for my purposes. A silver hanger was cut using a magazine freebie die.

The red die cut circle was edged with some more Festive Berries DI and the sentiment stamped and embossed in white EP. The first branch was added as is, but the second branch was cut in two before being added. A small gold ribbon bow completes and the whole bauble was then added to my background.

So that's about it from me, I hope I've given you some ideas to create your own cards.

Thanks for stopping by.

Brand Ambassador Inspiration, One Stamp Set, Two Techniques

 Good morning, Julie here with a couple of festive makes. I've used the gorgeous Season of Beauty stamp set and two different techniques to get two completely different looks.

The first is simply a stamped all over design using the large solid and smaller detail poinsettia stamps and the smallest leaf stamp to create a crisp result.

After stamping the poinsettias, including the detail layer, I added some green bracts using Altenew's Moss ink with the smallest of the leaf stamps. I went in again to stamp the paler colour with the wrong side of the stamp and Altenew's Olive ink. The tiny flowers in the centers were stamped with Altenew's Maple Yellow.

My sentiment panel was cut from vellum and stamped with the large, bold, Christmas from Christmas Sentiments and the smaller banners with elements from Christmas Wishes, in matching red ink. I used the back of these banners and the solid sections of embossing to add my vellum with liquid glue.

My second card uses the exact same stamped elements, except the detail layer for the poinsettia, but using the water colour marker on stamps, to give a softer feel.

The technique is quite easy, especially if you have a MISTI. On a panel of hot pressed watercolour card, I inked up the main image and then stamped the first image. I then painted over the stamped image with clean water, reinked the stamp with a darker marker and stamped again. The water makes the ink blend with the lower layer but in a random way. It's not a technique for you if you like to be in full control of the outcome!! The process was repeated over the panel and then with the green bracts, using the same stamps as the card above but adding the solid stamp first and water to blend the colour before adding the detail.

 When dry, the flower centers were added with yellow ink and some yellow ochre shadows added with the tip of a Zig Marker. I then used a dark, red, fine liner to add veins to the the red bracts freehand.

This time I used the same sentiment stamps but was a little braver with the smaller ones, adding them with gold EP. Some gold, twinkling thread was added behind the vellum panel which I glued down using the sentiment to hide the glue.

It just goes to show that you can get such a different look just by changing the technique used. I hope you agree, this stamp set is so versatile!

That's all from me until the New Year, so I hope you all have a lovely Christmas and we can look forward to a happy and healthy 2022.

Autumn is in the air 🍂

Hello & Happy Wednesday.

Another evening blog post for me today, the days just seem to be running away from me. Those six hours the boys are at school just fly by and before I know it, it's time to walk back and get them! 

Autumn 🍂 is in the air.

Although the first day of autumn in the UK us next week, the signs have been slowly creeping in the past couple of weeks. Slightly darker mornings, the light fading earlier and that crispness in the air that accompanies both. The leaves are already starting to change colour and fall too.

I don't have a favourite season. There are things I love about them all. Today I was inspired by the changing of the season and embracing the rustic feel of autumn.

I think I achieved this with my chosen colours. The Nature's Wonders collection from Altenew. Like many of the Brand Ambassadors, I was inspired to ink up the recently restocked, Season Of Beauty clear stamp set! 

As you can see I decided to pair the larger foliage sprig with the Stencil - Wonky Stripes. I am loving the movement this combination creates. Especially with stamping the foliage so it falls off the edge of the panel. 

What is your favourite thing about autumn? 

Until tomorrow. 

Crafty Hugs

 

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Season of Beauty

Hi Everyone, 

Thanks for joining me, Steph, today where I am focusing on the Uniko Season of Beauty stamp set. 

This is a ‘new to me’ stamp set but I have been a big fan of it since it was released. As it was my first use of the set I had a good play about and stumbled upon a technique that I have completely fallen in love with - faux water colouring.

For my first card I inked up the poinsettia outline and before I stamped it, I spritzed the stamp with water. I then stamped onto watercolour card and the effect is beautiful. I followed up with inking the inner leaf part of the poinsettia using the same colour ink and various leaves and stems using differing colours of green, spritzing each with water before stamping.

To finish my card I layered it onto a Kraft card blank, heat embossed the sentiment from Uniko Most Wonderful stamp set in gold on black and added some gold embellishments to the gaps.

I was enjoying this technique so I carried on and changed the colour scheme to purple for my second card.

For my third sample I decided to spritz the watercolour card with water instead of the stamp and the effect is quite different.

Initially I wasn’t as pleased with the result because of the more ‘blocky’ look but after I adhered it to the black card it seemed to really come alive. For this card I used a heat embossed sentiment from the Uniko Simply Said Blocks Christmas stamp set.

Us Uniko Brand Ambassadors all seem to be on a roll with Christmas inspiration. See recent inspiration from Weikbe here, Jane here and Issy here.

Much love

Steph x

Brand Ambassador Christmas Card Inspiration

Hi, it's Julie here with a little bit of Christmas inspiration at Uniko.

Whilst trying to come up with some different ideas for Christmas cards, I remembered this card using a turnabout stamp and it also reminded me of this card I made a couple of Christmases ago.

Here is my take, using some Uniko goodies.

Using a black, A6 side folding base card and after giving it a healthy going over with my anti static pad, I arranged some foliage radiating from the centre of the front panel. I used the large solid stem from Sweet Broom and the small spray from Season of Beauty, then infilled with part of the evergreen bough from WinterFoliage. 

Using my Misti, I stamped with Versamark then heat embossed with white EP. Flipping the card 180', I repeated the process. To fill in the other corners I placed the same elements on the card front but had to carefully mask off some of the stems so that they didn't overwhelm the centre and repeated the process of stamp then emboss. There was a slight gap in the centre which I filled with some small evergreen boughs from the Background builders: Vines Winter Additions.

On a panel of Vellum I stamped the Merry Christmas from Festive Sentiments and embossed with red EP, then added a die cut thin frame before adding it to my base card. It looked a tad empty, so added a couple of punched holly sprigs before adding Nuovo drops for some more a festive finish to the base and vellum panel.

My second card uses the Background Block- Scandinavian Christmas stamp. 

The different images on this stamp reminded me of decorations on a Christmas tree, so I decided to make a card along those lines.

Here is the end result.

To begin, I took a scrap of acetate my OH was throwing away, and made a stencil by die cutting a simple tree shape.

Using my MISTI, placed an A6 red card base under the stencil, secured it with the magnets and stamped the image with Versafine and used some fine gold EP to heat emboss. The sentiment in the same gold EP is from the Pure Florals Poinsettia set. When finished, I noticed there was a mark in the card stock along one edge, so although I wanted it to be a OLcard, I had to trim the panel down and add it to another base card. Waste not want not! I also decided to add some Fired Brick and Vintage Photo DI to give my red card stock a little more richness

Hope I've given you some inspiration for those Christmas cards you need to make. Happy crafting.

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Christmas cards or not

Bonjour !

It's Izzy here today with 3 cards using products of the last release. Needless to tell you that Christmas approaching, I make cards to add to my Christmas stash. Nevertheless, I'm quite often inspired by challenges around in blogland.

Lately I had a card to make as a DT for a challenge asking to use torn paper and I made the following card thinking that Uniko was still the sponsor. Here is the card.

I love this big and gorgeous Designer Die Sparkling Snowflake so I used it as the star of the show for this card. I cut one in a blue Vellum paper and another one in white paper that I covered with glitter.

I torned a strip in a white paper that has glittery incrusted and I adhered it to a blue iridescent panel. I foam mounted this panel on the double blue card and I adhered the snowflakes on top. The sentiment from the BIG & BOLD - Snow Clear set is stamped and heat embossed with white puff embossing powder.

For the following two cards, I've been inspired by the Twofer card challenge. They asked us to use holiday greenery, and I thought that the greenery of the Season of Beauty set was perfect to illustrate this challenge and to show the versatility of the Uniko stamps.

First I've made this Christmas card. I die cut a square in a red card stock and I stamped and gold heat embossed the sentiment on it. I cut a square in Vellum and I adhered the red square on top. 

Both squares are adhered on the card. And to finish I coloured the berries with a red metallic gel pen. I love how the gold embossed greenery shine over the black card. 

Although exceptionally we were allowed to enter two of the same occasion cards, I opted for a totally different occasion for the second card. This greenery is also beautiful on its own and I found it perfect for a grief card.

I cut a square panel and I stamped the greenery with a very dark grey, then I stamped the sentiment from the Pure Florals - Lily set. 

On the double white card I embossed a square slightly bigger than the free panel. I cut a strip of Vellum that I fixed to the back of the panel with adhesive tape. I did the same with a thin black ribbon. To finish I flat adhered this panel over the white card and I glued a little black knot on the ribbon.

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope this Christmas or not post will help you to use your Uniko supplies for different occasions. Just try and you will see what results !

Have a great crafty week !