Less is More #385

Hello my crafty friends, it's time to announce our latest challenge at Less is More - it's actually the last challenge of 2018 as we're taking a break through December. On a personal note I'm feeling quite emotional about this one as I'll be stepping down from the Design Team after this challenge. Sadly lack of time in recent months has meant that I haven't been able to fully commit to the challenge blog hence my decision. 
I've definitely had an absolute blast though and enjoyed every minute on this Design Team. I've also made some awesome friends here and hope they'll remain life-long buddies. Thanks to all of my fellow teamies at Less is More for being fun and fabulous and I wish you every success and hope Less is More goes from strength to strength - see you in Blogland! 
So back to the challenge; and here's the cue card to get you started

You'll find all the details on the main challenge blog HERE as well as links to the fantastic inspiration from the rest of the Design Team  as well as Katrina of Katrina's Crafting Blog, winner of our September challenges who is Guest Designing for this one. 
I'm sure you'll love this challenge despite it being that dreaded ONE LAYER week! The theme is holiday, so simple and adaptable for creating lots of occasions as well as a few extra Christmas cards, as I've done!
Both cards use images from Uniko with the first one using the recently released Background Builders: Christmas 2018 as well as some older sentiments. The fairy lights are coloured with Promarkers and sparkled with a Tonic Shimmer Pen and Glossy Accents.

This one uses some older images; Rustic Christmas, Background Blocks - Horizontal Stripes and Simply Said Christmas. I've also added some delicate crystal gems to the tree for added sparkle and interest.

Our sponsor for this challenge is Happy Little Stampers so do play along for a chance of a prize, which we'll announce at the start of next month.


I hope you'll feel inspired to play along with us and have a little crafty fun. Thanks for calling by my blog today and I'd like to thank all the many supporters of the Less is More Challenge - we couldn't do it without you and I hope you'll continue to enjoy the challenges ahead. 

Uniko - Introducing Sweet Broom

Hi there

I'm back with Day 3 of introductions, showcasing another stamp set from the new products due for release by Uniko on Tuesday. This one is called Sweet Broom and it's super versatile as it can be used for general floral cards or Christmas too as I've shown below.

I stamped one of the images from the set 3 times in Altenew Evergreen Ink followed by the detailed layer in Forest Fern ink. I added some additional coloured detail with Promarkers and adhered a festive sentiment from the simply said blocks Christmas set, introduced yesterday. The red panel has some tone on tone images from the Sweet Broom stamp set too. 

This time shown as a birthday example using the other bloom from the set and stamped with more Altenew inks in Greys and Yellows with another of the Simply Said blocks sentiments from the original set in this range. I've added some dotty details using a grey Promarker pen and some teeny gems and silver pearls.

The release schedule, can be found over on the Uniko blog HERE as well as links and peeks at how my fellow teamies have worked their magic!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you'll join me for one more day of introductions tomorrow.

Uniko Revist - Beautiful Blooms I, II & III

Hi there friends, we're having a REVIST month over at Uniko where Bev asks us to 'dig out', dust down and bring a previously released set back into the spotlight! 
This month she's decided that all of the Beautiful Blooms range needs a little love and showcasing so she's asked if we'll select one of the sets to feature in our posts.
I pulled all three sets out onto my desk but realised I have used the Beautiful Blooms I a lot in it's time, as it's one of my favourite Uniko Bloom sets, especially as it has matching dies! So I went to work with the other 2 using the same colour combos.
First up it's BB III with sentiment from Organic Wishes, followed by BB II using a mix of sentiments from Birthday sentiments and the Simply Said range. Both cards use some brand new Altenew inks called 'Sweet Dreams' - (well new to me anyway from the Port Sunlight Happy Stampers show in early May) but this is the first time I've used them. As you'd expect it's delicious mix of colours too! 

As is the tradition there's a blog hop giveaway; the prize being a choice of one of the 3 sets featured.

You'll find all the details over at Uniko HERE and here's the list of blogs you need to visit on the hop! I wish you lots of luck!

Bev
Carol 

Deborah 
Izzy 

Jane 
Lindsey

Rahmat
Sarah G

Sarah P
 

Before I leave you to hop here's the images of the sets and as always thanks for visiting my blog today.

  

  

Uniko Reveal, Release and GIVEAWAY Blog Hop - May 2018

Hi there and thanks for visiting me again today!
So you've had the Sneaky Peeks and Introductions and now we have the BIG Reveal, Release and GIVEAWAY of this month's new goodies from Uniko
If you're lucky enough to have a ticket for the Happy Stampers Festival in Port Sunlight for today then be sure to pop along to the Uniko stand to say hello and all these new goodies, that we've been introducing you to in the last week or so, will be available to buy! Yeah!
Here's my cards showcasing these fabulous sets and they are now available in the shop HERE and waiting for you to buy!
This first one uses a combination of older mini images by Uniko along with the Natures Treasures II stencil, Simply Said Blocks II set and Originally Organics Additions Designer Dies, all of which are being released this time.

These two use the Stylised Flower stencil with the 'Have a ... Day' sentiment stamps above from the Celebrate with Cake set, 'Happy' below from the Festive Sentiments  and the bees and 'Day' from the Bee Happy set being released this month. I received my first pot of Nuvo Glimmer Paste this week and couldn't wait to play with it so I inked up 2 panels of water coloured cardstock with Distress Oxides (blue/green above and pink/yellow below) before adding the paste through the stencil. 

As we've got a 'bee' theme sort of going on this month I decided to use some Hexagan stitched dies by Die-namics to feature on these ones. 

As well as the regular Design Team we're also joined by Anna of urascrap who is the Uniko Guest Designer for May so do pop along and visit her blog and leave a friendly word. 

So all that's left for me to do is set you off on the traditional Design Team Blog Hop and wish you luck. All the details you need are on the Uniko blog HERE so if you get lost along the way just head back there.

Bev
Carol 

Deborah 
Izzy 

Jane 
Julie
Linda

Lindsey

Rahmat
Sarah G

Sarah P - That's Me
Wiebke

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you've enjoyed being introduced to these new goodies from Uniko and I've added the images of the various products below. 
Have fun and happy shopping.
   
               

Uniko - Introducing Explosion! Collection Designer Dies

Hi there, 

Today is the final introduction to the latest products being released from Uniko this month and all these beautiful products will be available from 12th May, to coincide with the Happy Little Stampers Festival on Saturday and available to purchase in the online store too. 

This collection of dies coordinates with the previously released Explosion and Explosion Additions sets. Unfortunately I ran out of time to play with this one for long but there's endless options I thought of that I'll hopefully get around to in the next few weeks. 

So an explosion of Altenew inks teamed with the sets and some matching Promarkers to create this cartoon style card. Some elements are popped up on the 3d foam for added dimension and I love that we've now got the bold 'BAM' and 'WOW' as dies alongside the explosions. 

As well as the regular Design Team we're joined by Anna of urascrap who is the Uniko Guest Designer for May so do pop along and visit her blog and leave a friendly word. 

The release schedule, can be found over on the Uniko blog HERE as well as links and peeks at how my fellow teamies have worked their magic!
Thanks for stopping by and I hope you'll be back tomorrow for the BIG reveal, release and giveaway!
YIPPEE!

Uniko - Introducing Just Because & Large French Script Background

Hello there friends

Hopefully you're enjoying our teasers and introductions in preparation for the latest release of new products from Uniko, all of which will be available to coincide with the Happy Little Stampers Festival on Saturday, 12th May and available to purchase in the online store too. 

Over the next few days we'll introduce you to the new goodies in a little more detail and today we're sharing our creations using 2 more of the new stamp sets; Just Because and Large French Script Background.

As well as the regular Design Team we're also joined by Anna of urascrap who is the Uniko Guest Designer for May so do pop along and visit her blog and leave a friendly word. 
Here's how I've played with these new sets:

Once again using a similar colour palette as yesterday using Altenew Inks for the first card and Distress Oxides in the second one. I've used an almost symmetrical pattern of stamping for the first card by rotating my card in the misti and re-stamping the image in various colours. The French Script Background was inked in a very subtle blue colour with additional sentiments stamped on top. 

This one uses an inky blended background of Blueprint Sketch, Mermaid Lagoon, Peacock Feathers and Twisted Citron. I've also inked the script background in the same colours and stamped on top. Once dry I've added the silhouette image and sentiment in Memento Tuxedo Black ink. 

The release schedule, can be found over on the Uniko blog HERE as well as links and peeks at how my fellow teamies have worked their magic!
Thanks for stopping by and I hope you'll be back tomorrow for more introductions.

Mad about Distress Oxides

Hello Friends,

It's amazing what a little time away from work can do for my mojo! Although back at work this week I've thoroughly enjoyed playing with inky blending and Distress Oxides and only just getting round to posting my cards here. In fact I'm only just experimenting with these inks having bought 4 of them about 18 months ago. Unfortunately the colours I picked didn't really blend nicely together so I simply had to buy a few more!!!

I only have 13 colours in total ... my favourites, which I know I'll use and blend nicely. I love bright colours and particularly rainbow tones so you can no doubt guess which inks I've gone for!

So a bundle of 'same but different' resist technique cards using the Marvellous Mendhi set by Uniko and various stamp company sentiments.

I think this has to be my favourite colour combo ... using Blueprint Sketch, Twisted Citron, Peacock Feathers and Cracked Pistachio. I've a feeling this has an Altenew sentiment.

The sentiment on this one is Clearly Besotted and I've used Spiced Marmalade, Squeezed Lemonade and Worn Lipstick for my colour combo. 

I think this is another Altenew sentiment (apologies I just grabbed a load of stamp sets and pulled off sentiments I liked to heat emboss en masse! I've used the same colour combo as the previous card with a little Picked Raspberry too and inked more randomly than the previous one. 

This sentiment is by Mama Elephant and the distress ink colours are Peacock Feathers, Wilted Violet, Picked Raspberry and Spiced Marmalade.

I'm still experimenting with different blends but hope you like these ones so far. Thanks for calling by.

Less is More #369

Hello my crafty friends, it's time to announce our latest challenge at Less is More and we're stepping back in time with what's required for this one! All the details are on the main challenge blog HERE and here's our cue card.


You might decide to use a technique or stamp set that's not seen the light of day in a while or an additional element/embellishment that's perhaps no longer deemed 'fashionable' in crafting circles at the moment. 
Unbelievably I've 3 cards to share with you today ... having had a 2 week Easter break I had a little extra time to craft. These first 2 use handmade paper / mulberry paper I think it was called although this one is a thicker variety than others. 
For the first card I used a Columbus scalloped circle die from Mama Elephant to create a frame for the handmade paper. I stamped the sentiment from WPlus9 around the circle and mounted the 'wonderful' die-cut sentiment on foam to hide the balloon string. The balloon is from the Happy Little Stampers set 'Simply Said' and it's coloured using Promarkers.

This one uses a glittery embossed handmade / mulberry paper which I've adhered to some teal cardstock then used a die-cut 'Happy Birthday' sentiment from Impression Obsessions

Last but not least I have to admit that I own hundreds of these papery flowers in my stash; all different shapes, sizes and colours and I simply couldn't resist using them along with 2 mini sparkly brads in the centre (another of those no-longer-fashionable craft items).
I used some of the foliage stamps from Altenew Vintage Flowers to create a backdrop for the paper blooms but I'm not sure it's working for me! The sentiment is by Happy Little Stampers, our sponsor this month at Less is More.

As always there's loads of fabulous designs from my fellow teamies  over on the Less is More blog HERE and as I mentioned earlier, our sponsor for this challenge is Happy Little Stampers so do play along for a chance of a prize, which we'll announce at the start of next month. 

I hope you'll feel inspired to play along with and have some crafty fun along the way.
Thanks for calling by today!

Uniko - Wishfully Thinking of Summer

Hello there, I've another 'just for fun post' here which I'm coinciding with a DT Inspiration post for Uniko, which you can find HERE and there's a sneaky peek at my card at the end of this post!

Having spent a few days away in London last week I discovered lots of colour and pattern inspiration from various shops and displays so I couldn't wait to re-create my take on some with my cards once I got back.

So here's a card I've made using the latest sketch from CAS Colours and Sketches and inspired by some clothing fabric that caught my eye!

Here's my inspiration ...

The fabric definitely has a summery feel so, wishfully thinking the season would arrive soon, I pulled out the Paradise and Paradise Foliage sets from Uniko and set about creating a background on red cardstock. Firstly, the images were stamped in Hero Arts Unicorn White pigment ink then moving the red card slightly re-stamped  some of them Sapphire Blue ink by Altenew. The sentiment is from the Simply Said collection and here's the sketch I've used:

While I had the stamps on my desk I thought I'd create a card for some DT inspiration over on the Uniko blog and as promised here's a little sneaky peek! 

As always thanks for stopping by today and I'll be back with the latest challenge for Less is More tomorrow so hope you'll join me again then.