BA inspiration: Featuring Spring Botanicals Primrose

 Hello everyone!

Happy Sunday!

Vinita is here today to feature Uniko's new and gorgeous Spring Botanical Primrose stamp set. Let's get started with the details.

For the background, I ink-blended the picked raspberry distress oxide ink from top to bottom in an ombre pattern. I heat embossed the floral pattern on both edges using Carousel Wow EP and mounted the panel to my hot pink card base. 

Then I heat embossed the floral image on a scalloped vellum panel. I heat embossed the sentiment using Opaque Bright White EP from the Bright Butterflies set. I mounted it to the card front using transparent adhesive tape to add dimension to the floral pattern.

It's fun to come up with a completely different technique featuring an intense pink as the main color with metallic accents and a pop of sparkle!

Thanks much for stopping by today!

Happy crafting!

Brand Ambassador Inspiration - Watercolour Wednesday

Morning all, 

Steph here today with my Uniko Brand Ambassador inspiration and this month I wanted to practice my watercolour. I decided that Uniko Organically Zesty stamp set was a good one to use watercolours on and also needed a bit of a sunny lift! 

So for my first attempt I decided to do some ink blending onto the blank card first before stamping the lemon image and then adding more definition with watercolour pencils. 

For my second card I decided to use just the watercolour pencils but this time blend them using a water brush. This resulted in a much paler version of the previous card, not quite as 'zesty'!

Finally I switched to watercolour paints which was a scary prospect for me as I'm most definitely not a natural but I need the practice! I like the result other than the flowers which didn't turn out so well. I also think the green is a bit too bold and needed to be more yellow green like the other two cards. 

So, which version do you like best and what method do you prefer to use yourself? 

Much love

Steph x

Rainbow Waves & Paw Print Hearts

Happy FriYAY!

It's been another day of show prep in the studio today, but I managed to find some inspiration and time to finish add something to this background I stamped a few days ago. 

I've been on a little watercolour kick this past week, working on some cards coming for the April Release at the end of the month. 

But I had this idea to do some watercolour waves using the Background Blocks Waves. I started with a panel of watercolour card that I washed with water before putting inside my stamping platform. I then inked the Background Blocks Waves in Poppy, Marmalade, Buttercup, Parsley, Oceanside and Blueberry. Stamping it down onto the card and letting the colours smoosh and bleed into the paper.

I then couldn't decide what to put on the background, but then today I thought of Paw Print Hearts. So I simply used my stamping platform to stamp the heart and sentiment in black ink before adhering the panel to a piece of Honeysuckle card. 

Like all sympathy cards they are difficult to make, but good to have on hand for when they are sadly needed. 

Right, time to do a bit more prep.

Crafty Hugs

Watch it Wednesday

Happy Wednesday.

Let’s Get Inky! 

The sunshine ☀️ is out & I felt like inking up the Stencil - Layering Organic Blooms 🌸

This stencil has a wonderful retro Scandinavian feel to it and is drawn in my organic style, making it perfect to pair with the Organic Blooms clear stamps and others from the Organic Collection. 

As you will see in the warp speed video over HERE on the Uniko YouTube Channel, the stencil contains 4 layers. They are easy to line up & ink through with blending brushes. 

Tip - apply a little removable adhesive to the reverse of the first layer, the leaf tendrils are quite flimsy to get this beautiful flowing leaf design. 

I chose Concord & 9th inks in Parsley, Pink Lemonade, Carnation, Buttercup & Marmalade. Don’t do what I did & be sure to make sure your flower stencil is clean before using a light pink 🥴😂

And here is how I used the stencilled panel...

One thing I'm trying to do this year is use my stash, such as stand alone dies I've had for ages and of which rarely see card action. I chose this old MFT (I think) stitched curvy border die as I felt it matched the flow of the leaves on this stencil design.

I adhered the die cut panel using foam adhesive and then chose the Smile sentiment from Organic Blooms, which I fussy cut and adhered using foam tape. To finish I added some Cobblestone enamel dots.

That's all from me today, I hope the sun has been out for you today.

Crafty Hugs

Hello April 🌸

Hello April & Happy Tuesday. 

A shiny new month ahead and lots of inspiration in store. It's a jam packed month here at Uniko HQ with lots planned for the month. 

This weekend I have another show, here in the North East of the UK with Crafterama in Gateshead. I'm excited to be back on almost home ground & I'm looking forward to chatting & demoing on the Uniko stand. 

Next is the Uniko Stamping Retreat & I've a fun filled day of crafting in store and the attendees are super lucky, they get to see & craft with the new products coming at the end of the month. 

I'll be taking a little 'break' over the Easter weekend, I say 'break' more like getting out of the studio to help my husband install a new fence along the side of our house. Whilst I might add The Beans go off on their jollies with Grandma & Grandad! I often wonder what I agree to 😂

Then the final full week of April we will begin the countdown to the April 2025 Release which will be available on the website and at the Crafterama show in Lincoln. 

Anyway, enough chat, lets start the month as I mean to go on with inspiration...

My card today was totally inspired by THIS card by Kristina Werner. I've been a fan of Kristina's for many many years and I was delighted when she launched her own collection with Concord & 9th. I've treated myself to a few things, including this skinny frame die. You can purchase it HERE at Seven Hills Crafts.

Anyway, I saw this card, loved the layout and thought it would work wonderfully with the flowers from Organic Blooms.

I often forget about stamping on coloured card. So often I reach for white and a way of adding colour, which I am not always great at doing. But this is a fun and quick way of bringing all the colour.

The colours used are Wildberry, Honeysuckle, Sweet Pea & Pink Lemonade. I chose to use black for my frame and stamping instead of gold that Kristina has used, but I still managed to squeeze in a little white! 

Are you a fan of stamping on coloured card or patterned paper?

Crafty Hugs

March Meet The Maker - Product Story

 Hello & Happy Monday.

Today is the final day of March Meet The Maker and the final theme is product story. So far I've talked about the Originally Organic Collection, Ink & Flip Stencils & the popular Mid Century Modern Collection. 

There are lots of products that have stories, but I thought for this final day I would highlight the Stencil - MOD Background Builder. 

This stencil was the start of my 'builder' style stencils. The idea being that you can have an instant focal pattern, but that you can also move it around easily to fill a larger space.

I happened upon this 'builder' style from my surface pattern days and learning Adobe Illustrator in that this is a similar format to use to create and seamless pattern. And this was one I had created in my portfolio of designs. 

This shows the stencil used as an instant backdrop/focal point for the flower from Flower Power #3, accented with a sentiment from Simply Said Blocks.

This next sample shows how the stencil can be used as an all over pattern. I've accented with elements from the corners of the stencil and a sentiment from Everyday Sentiments.

Lastly for today I thought I would make a new card to share with you. 

I went for a little tone on tone ink blending for this card. First ink blended some Oceanside onto the white card panel, but faded it out towards the top. 

I then used Peacock from the bottom, through the stencil and then Oceanside towards the top. For my sentiment I used Birthday Sentiments as I still had it out on my desk. 

I love this stencil format and it was the spark that gave me the inspiration to go on to design the Stencil - MOD Background Builder Circles and then I expanded the format to design the Stencil - Layering Bauhaus Blocks. I can confirm there will be new designs coming in this format this year!

And that wraps up March Meet The Maker. I hope you have enjoyed the blog series as much as I have and it's given you a little more insight behind the scenes. 

Crafty Hugs

 

Mothering Sunday

Hello & Happy Sunday.

Today in the UK is Mothering Sunday. One of the most bittersweet days of the year for me. Where I am blessed beyond measure to be a mum to two amazing boys. I am so proud of them and they bring me joy and love every day.

But then another year adds to the 15 already passed that I don't get to spend it with my mum, loved and missed so much. Sad that she never got to see me get married, have The Beans or get to dote on them like my parents in law do.

Still, I got to make a card for my mother in law who over the years has been a blessing and taken me under her wing like a daughter of her own. 

Of course it had to be flowers and I fancied inking up the Stencil - Layering Picked Posies as I thought she would appreciate this one.

I kept it simple and added a sentiment from Everyday Love Sentiments and Everyday Spring Sentiments, along with a few enamel dots.

It's been a nice family day, although a little tiring as the clocks sprung forward this morning and I woke early, baked and cooked a Sunday roast. 

Time to chill before a fun filled week prepping for Crafterama Gateshead tomorrow. 

Crafty Hugs