Uniko - Introducing Originally Organics Additions Designer Dies

Hi there, 

I'm back again today to introduce you to the first of the Designer Dies being released  this month from Uniko. All these beautiful products, which we've been teasing you with in the last few days will be available to coincide with the Happy Little Stampers Festival on Saturday, 12th May and available to purchase in the online store too. 

This collection of dies is an eagerly awaited set for me in particular as I love the set and it's not the easiest to fuzzy cut so having this little addition to my set makes life so much easier! I've 2 cards to share using the set and first up I've gone with a shaker card and a sentiment from the Just Because set, introduced on Monday.

To start with I embossed all of the images and sentiment in Sterling Silver embossing powder by Stampendous before colouring with Promarkers, then assembling the shaker card. Here's a close up as most of the sequins fell to the bottom for the photo above! 

I'd like to link this one up at the latest Flower Challenge where they are looking for 'Vellum or Acetate'

Next up I die-cut the heart image and some of the other little flowers from the set plus some bees from the Bee Happy set, also being released this time. Coloured all the images with Promarkers then added a 'bee' sentiment from the Bee Happy set. 

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 final introductions before the BIG reveal, release and giveaway on Saturday!

Uniko Revisit - March 2018

Hi there friends, it's 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 it's the turn of the Fun Flowers set, which as of last month now has a coordinating stencil.
Here's my cards and I ended up colouring a bigger panel than I needed so it's a 2-for-1 today and in the hope that the weather turns a little warmer now we've moved into spring I decided to use these bold, bright and cheery colours.
The first one has a raised die-cut butterfly camouflaged in the design and although it's not obvious in the photo I've layered it on 4 pieces of die-cut card in the colours of my panel.

It's a floral frenzy challenge over at Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge so I'd like to pop this one in there as well as The Flower Challenge where it's Anything Goes.

As is the tradition there's a blog hop giveaway; the prize being a £15 eGift Certificate and you have until Saturday 7th April 2018 to comment

You'll find all the details including 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 
Julie
Linda

Lindsey

Rahmat
Sarah G

Sarah P - that's me!
Wiebke 

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

   

Less is More #334

Hi there, can you believe another week has just zipped by and it's time to announce our latest weekly challenge at Less is More - these weeks need to slow down as I can't keep up!!!
So on to the challenge and it's time for a sketch this week, I've got a few examples for you and I've got to admit I was pretty pleased with myself having made a Christmas card during the hottest week so far this year! I was desperate to use the CBS landscape die but having photographed my card and popped it on the Less is More blog I'm not sure it adheres to our sketch quite as much as it should so here's a few more examples .... but first up the sketch!

Using Distress inks in Blueprint Sketch, Mermaid Lagoon and Faded Jeans I've created a loose watercolour effect in the shape of the sketch - a little tricky when the ink wants to run beyond the 'lines'! Once dry I splattered some water on top for extra interest then stamped the magnolia blooms by Altenew, added a die-cut sentiment from Impression Obsessions. 
I was inspired by the photo challenge over at Inkspirational this week so I'd like to pop this card in there as well as Addicted to Stamps and More, where they're celebrating a massive 5 years worth of challenges with a 'Make Your Mark' challenge and lastly, another entry to this month's Flower Challenge where it's 'Anything Goes'





Next up and using some striking and vibrant design papers from Doodlebug plus their sprinkles too I've created 2 cards, as close as possible to the sketch, but flipped on the second one. 

This one uses another 'on the line' die-cut sentiment from Impression Obsessions and I'd like to pop this one in at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where it's 'Use Design Paper' and they are featuring products by Doodlebug! Pretty fortunate seen as I love their papers and accessories. 

Another set of papers from Doodlebug and this time accessorised with a die-cut sentiment by Waffle Flower and the 'your birthday' from Uniko: Simply Said

... and last but not least my 'dubious' make from the Less is More blog with a distress inky blended skyline, white gel pen snow drops plus some added glitter sparkles to the sky too and to finish a festive sentiment from Uniko: Most Wonderful.

As always thanks for calling by my blog today and I hope you feel inspired to join in with our sketch challenge this week. There's loads of fab makes from by fellow teamies at Less is More so don't forget to pay them a visit and the links to their blogs can be found HERE

A Little Tuesday Flower Power!

Hi friends, I've a card to share today  and would you believe this card was started last summer at the HLS retreat in Swindon when my buddy Anita let me borrow this stunning bloom. I stamped and heat embossed it ... and it has remained in that state until this week!!!

I finally decided to add some yummy blue tones with an inky blend of Distress inks over the top, a splatter of water with perfect pearls and to finish a little bit of sparkle with some sequins. It's such a beautiful and detailed stamp that I can't even remember which company makes it ... Anita can you help out with that??? The sentiment is by WPlus9: Ranunculus

I'd like to link this one up at The Flower Challenge with a massive apology as it's one of those challenges I really should enter every month, especially because I own so many floral stamps and they really are my favourite image on cards. So here at last ...

Thanks for calling by my blog today and I hope you're enjoying a crafty week!

Uniko Revisit: Beautiful Blooms I

Hello there! I After all the new year and holiday festivities it's time to settle down  and revisit a previously released set over at Uniko this month. 
Bev has asked us to 'dig out', dust down and bring the Beautiful Blooms I  plus matching dies back into the limelight! 
This has to be one of my all time favourite floral sets from Uniko and  it's only when I started playing with it again the I realised just how much  I love the style and image ... so here goes!

I started out by stamping my images using Altenew inks before die-cutting.

I used an MFT basic stitched border die to create the rounded edge

along the top to follow the line of the blooms. The sentiments are from

the FONTiments - birthday (sadly retired) and 'On Your birthday' from

Simply Said Birthday.

I hope you like how I've showcased this beautiful set and there's plenty 

more fun designs by my fellow teamies with links on the Uniko blog HERE

It's a 'Blue and Yellow' colour theme over at The Flower Challenge 

so I'd like to pop this one in over there.

As is the tradition there's a blog hop giveaway; the prize being the featured set plus

matching dies, or a gift card to the same value. 

You have until Friday, 20th January to leave 

your comments and be in with a chance of winning a prize.

Here's the order and if you get lost along the way just head back to Uniko

Bev

Deborah

Jane

Rahmat

Sarah G

Sarah P (that's me)

Before I leave you to hop here's the image of the sets and as always thanks

for visiting my blog today and I wish you lots of luck on the hop!

Less is More #299

Hi there LIMettes, are you ready for this week's challenge? I hope so! It's recipe week at Less is More and we'd like you to Use Acetate or Vellum

This one uses Pure Florals: Poinsettia and Simply Said Christmas by Uniko;

the sentiment and poinsettia are both heat embossed using WOW rich pale gold

and the inlaid frame die is by Paper Smooches.

I'd like to enter this for a couple of challenges too

 Happy Little Stampers CAS Challenge - Emboss on Vellum Happy Little Stampers Christmas challenge - Embossing    

            

and another entry for the Flower Challenge - Anything Goes with flowers

Here I've used some snowflake patterned acetate which is adhered

between the card stock at the top and bottom of the card.

The tree landscape die is from Clearly Besotted with the sentiment from

Happy Little Stampers - Christmas sentiments set. I've added a touch

of Tumbled Glass distress ink behind the acetate as the sky.

It's Anything Goes over at Addicted to Stamps and More

so I'd like to head over there with this card.

... and my last one has gone all pink! The reason is ... I'd like to link it up at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Think Pink

I discovered the hearts border die in my stash which is how this card started

plus my Mum asked me for an Anniversary card! That's all it takes eh!

Then thinking pink I've torn strips of mottled pink and white vellum, overlapped

it and adhered it to a piece of card stock. Added some pink sequins and a few

embossed chevrons from Happy Little Stampers Mix Mash in Ranger Silver Platinum to

 tone in with the sentiment from Avery Elle which is heat embossed in the same. 

As always thanks for visiting my blog today and I'll be back tomorrow

morning with the latest challenge info for AAA Cards - hope to catch you then!

A Trio of Cards - just for fun!

Hi Friends, I don't often get time to create just for creating sake but today I made a little time to finish off some cards that had been sat in pieces on my desk for a while and what's more I'm hoping they'll fit into  a couple of challenges too!
First up it's my fellow Less is More Teamie, Anita, who is playing MUSE this week at the Muse Card Challenge so couldn't resist 'casing' her gorgeous card. The colours are so neutral, calming and subtle ... quite the opposite to my usual style but I've had a go!

In addition to the colours I was inspired by the shiny leaf die-cuts and design paper

peeping through the negative space. Here I've used a flourish die by Sizzix and instead

of using the design paper behind I've water-coloured a panel in Autumnal browns and 

greens using Distress Inks. I've splattered some gold and bronze paints too using the 

Gansai Tambi water colour set. The leafy die-cut is from my stash (sorry not sure of

the manufacturer) and it's coated in Versamark ink before heat embossing with Ranger

Liquid Platinum embossing powder. The sentiment is by Happy Little Stampers, which

is embossed using the same powder before popping up on 3d foam.

Here's Anita's card

I'd also like to enter this one at 

Addicted to CAS - Watercolour

The next two cards use two floral sets from Altenew that are my

favourites at the minute! Beautiful Day which I bought a couple of 

weeks ago having admired it for months (it seems) and Remember This

which I purchased last weekend at the Happy Stampers Festival.

I've also kept to a similar design as I'm loving the effect of a coloured

bloom or two with the remainder of the images in black outline.

So here's Beautiful Day inked with Altenew Inks also with the panel

cut from a WPlus9 die in the Sunshine Layers die set then popped up

on green fun foam for added dimension. I've added a black gem to the

centre of the flower and some glossy accents for added detail.

I'd like to pop this one in at Addicted to Stamps and More where it's

their CAS week of challenges plus

CASology where the cue card is Support

EDIT: Thanks to Anita for suggesting I enter my floral card in the 

latest challenge over at Virgina's View - Focus Point

 Last but not least - here's 'Remember This' by Altenew

  again inked up using Altenew inks with the smaller blooms coloured with Promarkers, in what I hope are almost identical shades! I couldn't resist adding a few sequins to the design but looking at the photo I'm kind of wishing I hadn't!  So there's a brand new challenge in blogland simply called The Flower Challenge
What a perfect idea and a perfect name as who can resist all those wonderful bloom sets out there and now there's a challenge just to showcase those very things! Bliss! So I'm heading over there with this one and it's their first challenge titled "Anything Goes With Florals" and there's a whole month to enter so why not have a look and enter too!
Ok that's all for me today and thanks for calling by my blog. Catch up soon!