Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Snowflakes

Good morning everyone, 

Steph here today with my Uniko Brand Ambassador Inspiration for this month. 

We seem to be having a mix of weather in the UK from heat waves to all of a sudden very cold and autumnal weather and then back to warm weather again. So I thought I'd throw in a few snowflakes just to remind us that Christmas isn't all that far away...yes I'm trying to ignore that fact too! 

My initial idea was to have three beautiful inked panels peeking through a die cut aperture of the snowflake but I really didn't like it once I had done so I resurrected the remainder of the panel and inset a beautiful silver snowflake instead. Here I have used Uniko Let It Snow stencil with white ink and Uniko Sparkling Snowflake die. The sentiment is from the Uniko Christmas Sentiments stamp set. 

My next cards are slightly different as I didn't have enough of the remaining inked panels to use as above. So I adapted the design and used the snowflakes cut from the panels instead. 

I like the patterned snowflakes against the plain card base for some CAS cards ready for Christmas. For these cards I have use Uniko Christmas Folk Snowflake stencil and Uniko In The Forest stencil.

Much love

Steph x

BA Inspiration - Technique Tuesday, Using Sentiment Stamps For Backgrounds

 Good morning Uniko fans, Julie here with another BA post using sentiment stamps in a background. I love using sentiments for a background and have shared many ideas over the years such as here, here and here but this time I've been inspired by Jennifer McGuire to use a turnabout jig to create one.

Here's my first idea, using English Country Garden stamps and dies and some birthday themed sentiments.

I started with an A6 panel of white card and using a freehand cut shape to match my jig middle, I glued it temporarily onto the center of my panel and secured my jig into my MISTI. To get a feel for my layout, I started with the largest sentiment stamp and set off, turning the panel after each time I stamped. Once I could see where the gaps were, I used smaller sentiments to infill and repeated the stamping and turning. 

I stamped my butterfly on one of 3 white butterfly die cuts and coloured it with Copics. From the remaining die cuts, I removed the antennae and lower half of the body and folded them in half down the middle. These were then glued to each wing, meeting at the center and the other flaps were glued over the turnabout panel.  My panel was trimmed and added to an A6 white note card.

I rather liked the effect of the dancing butterfly over the sentiments, so tried another idea out, this time using the Sparkling Snowflake die and some appropriate sentiments.

This time I used Altenew Iceberg ink for the stamping, some of which I double and even triple stamped to increase the saturation of colour. Instead of using all 8 points of my stamping jig, I just used every alternate one, it gives a slightly different effect and I was able to use more sentiments.

The main snowflake was cut from holographic silver card and two others from matching white card folded down the middle and attached the same as the butterfly. One of Bev's sentiments describes the effect perfectly, Snowflakes are winter's butterflies!

So that's all from me for the moment, hope I've given you some inspiration for you to give it a go

Stay safe and keep crafting!

Brand Ambassador Inspiration, Spinning Snowflake

 Good morning folks, Julie here with a bit of brand Ambassador inspiration. Today I'm embracing my inner Jennifer McGuire with a take on a spinning card I saw her make on You Tube. The snowflake on this fun card spins! So grab a cuppa and settle down, there are lots of photos and instructions to follow plus a very short video, if it works!

To start, I took the Sparkling Snowflake Designer Die and cut out one snowflake from holographic card, then, using a small circle die, cut an aperture in the middle.

 

The size of the aperture needs to be just slightly larger than a flat sided button. It has to be flat and not domed to allow the spinning action.

On a panel of blue card, slightly smaller than an A6 card base, I inked through the Let It Snow stencil with Chipped Sapphire DOx. This gives a subtle background for the star of the show! This was then glued onto an A6 white base card, leaving a white edge showing.

The greeting in the center of the snowflake is made up from sentiments from Doodle Flowers and a new Christmas sentiment set coming soon! Using some of the same blue cardstock, I die cut a slightly larger circle than the opening and heat embossed the sentiment with white EP. This was then mounted onto a circle of white card, I found in my stash!

To attach the snowflake to the spinning mechanism is so easy. Place the snowflake onto the inked panel, a little bit of low tack tape keeps the die cut in place, and carefully glue the button of your choice into the center, careful not to get glue on the snowflake. 

Once the glue on the button is completely dry add some to the top, again keeping it away from the snowflake, and add the sentiment.

Once the glue is dry the snowflake can spin to it's heart content!

Take a look.

So that's that, hope it encourages you to have a go, it's really simple but looks fab and it's fun!

Keep safe and keep crafting, 'til next time.