Uniko January 2023 Release, Brand Ambassador Blog Hop and Giveaway!

Good morning!

It's release day over at Uniko! 

The products from this mini release are now available to purchase from the Uniko shop, here.  You can see them in their entirety later in this post.

Here's one more card sample for you...

I began by randomly repeat stamping the Mid Century Modern Background Blocks Linear image over the entire card base.  On a piece of spare white cardstock I stamped the outline image of the cat and then created a mask to cover then negative space.  I then stamped over the cat image with the already available Background Blocks Mid Century Modern II stamp and coloured the sections in with Copic markers.  I die cut the image with a square die and stamped the sentiment from the Mid Century Modern Frames set, then created a larger co-ordinating square and matted and layered onto the card base.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - Background Blocks Mid Century Modern Linear, Mid Century Modern Purrfect Day, Background Blocks Mid Century Modern II, Mid Century Modern Frames 
• Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black; Altenew - Lagoon; Versafine Clair - Nocturne
• Coloured with Copics
• Dies: MFT Die-namcis - Pierced Square Stax

Here are the products in full...

You can follow the blog hop from the Uniko blog, here, and there is also a giveaway where one lucky winner will win the entire release! 

I hope you've enjoyed this mini release, thanks so much for visiting.

Uniko January 2023 Mini Release - Introducing...Mid Century Modern Purrfect Day & MOD Background Builder Circles Stencil

Hi there

It's Day 3 of the introductions from latest Uniko release.

Today it's all about the new Mid Century Modern Purrfect Day stamp set and the MOD Background Builder Circles stencil.

Here's my first card, a simple one layer card using the stamp set...

I began by stamping with the cat's facial features stamp and then masked the eyes before stamping the solid image of the cat so the eyes remained white.  I then used the diamond shape image and stamped it multiple times in three shades, and then used the star burst stamp from the Mid Century Modern Florals set.  I inked through one shape from the Mid Century Modern Shapes stencil and then finished by stamping the sentiment, the white part heat embossed.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - Mid Century Modern Purrfect Day, Mid Century Modern Florals
• Stencil: Uniko - Mid Century Modern Shapes
• Ink: Versafine Clair - Nocturne; Altenew - Teal Cave, Autumn Blaze, Honey Drizzle; VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Brutus Monroe - Alabaster White

Next up I used the new MOD Background Builder Circles stencil.  I think this is my favourite of my cards for this release and although super CAS, it was quite fiddly to create, but certainly worth the effort...

I masked off a section of the main stencil and then, using quite a few bits of masking paper, inked through the various shapes, colour by colour, masking off the shapes alongside each one.  I then finished with a simple sentiment, which is from the Mid Century Modern Frames set which was introduced yesterday.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Uniko - MOD Background Builder Circles 
• Stamp: Uniko - Mid Century Modern Frames
• Ink: Altenew - Desert Night, Sand Dunes, Dew Drops, Pink Diamond; Versafine Clair - Nocturne

And for my third card today I combined the two...

I began by stamping the cat silhouette and then randomly inked through various shapes of the stencil in muted colours.  I finished the card by stamping the diamond and then the star burst and sentiment from the Mid Century Modern Frames set.  The final details were a few square green gems for the cats collar.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - Mid Century Modern Purrfect Day, Mid Century Modern Frames
• Stencil: Uniko - MOD Background Builder Circles
• Ink: Versafine Clair - Nocturne; Altenew - Dew Drops, Sand Dunes, Moss, Misty Moor, Orange Cream
• Accents: Papermania - Mosaics: Emerald & Jade

There's plenty more over on the main Uniko blog, here.  Please do pop back tomorrow for the full reveal.

The new products will be available to purchase from the Uniko website tomorrow at 10am GMT.

Uniko January 2023 Mini Release - Introducing...Mid Century Modern Frames

Hi there

It's Day 2 of the introductions from the upcoming mini release from Uniko.

Today it's all about Mid Century Modern Frames, another great set that Bev has designed to extend the Mid Century Modern collection.  A great mix of retro images and sentiments are included in this set.

Here's my first card, and here I've paired this set with the Background Blocks Mid Century Modern Linear stamp that was introduced by the team yesterday...

For some reason I chose to use some white hammered cardstock for this card, just fancied a change!  And although this looks super simple, it did take quite a few steps to create.  I began by stamping the frame image in a pale ink and then coloured in the pink and aqua sections with Copics.  I left my stamp in my MISTI so I could then re-stamp over the image in exactly the same position so I could then heat emboss in white.  It's so much easier this way than trying to colour with markers once the image has been embossed.  I then cut a mask for the entire frame and stamped the linear image in aqua ink so it appeared to be behind the frame.  

I heat embossed the sentiment, also from the set, in white and finished the card by adding some hot pink enamel dots.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - Mid Century Modern Frames, Background Blocks Mid Century Modern Linear
• Ink: VersaMark; Altenew - Volcano Lake
• Embossing Powder: Brutus Monroe - Alabaster White
• Coloured with Copics
• Accents: Doodlebug - Sprinkles: Bubblegum Assortment

And more masking was involved for my second card too, and I used the new set combined with the Mid Century Modern Shapes stencil...

Here I stamped the frame first, coloured with Copics and then created a mask.  I then ink blended through a couple of the shapes from the Mid Century Modern Shapes stencil.  I removed the mask and then stamped and heat embossed the sentiment in white and stamped the star burst.  The panel was die cut with a stitched rectangle die and I chose a card base in a co-ordinating shade.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - Mid Century Modern Frames
• Stencil: Uniko - Mid Century Modern Shapes
• Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black; Altenew - Autumn Blaze, Honey Drizzle; Versafine Clair - Nocturne; VersaMark
• Coloured with Copics
• Embossing Powder: Brutus Monroe - Alabaster White
• Die: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles
• Coloured cardstock from stash

Over on the main Uniko blog, here, Bev and my fellow Brand Ambassadors are showcasing this set today, so be sure to go check it out.

The new products will be available to purchase from the Uniko website from 13 January at 10am GMT.

I'll be back with more inspiration tomorrow, using two more new projects.

Uniko January 2023 Mini Release - Introducing...Background Blocks Mid Century Modern Linear

Good morning

I'm here today to introduce the first stamp in the latest mini release coming up from Uniko.

Bev has designed a great image here.  It co-ordinates brilliantly with the Mid Century Modern range as well as lots of other products from Uniko, and I've enjoyed using it so far.

Here's my first card, and here I've paired the new stamp with an existing Uniko stencil, Mid Century Modern Shapes, and the sentiment is from another set within this release...

I absolutely love how this card turned out, a clean and simple one layer.  I used four shapes from the stencil and blended through with various muted ink colours.  I then simply stamped the Linear image in black, as well as the sentiment.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Uniko - Mid Century Modern Shapes
• Stamps: Uniko - Background Blocks Mid Century Modern Linear, Mid Century Modern Frames (sentiment)
• Ink: Altenew - Moss, Dew Drops, Marshland, Sand Dunes; Versafine Clair - Noturne

And for my second card, I used the image with an existing stamp set, Mid Century Modern Florals...

I used a some pale blue cardstock for my panel and stamped the leaves, stem and flower head from images in the Mid Century Modern Florals set.  I then stamped the Linear image twice, horizontally, to surround the stem.  The sentiment is from another set in this release, which I'll introduce tomorrow.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - Background Blocks Mid Century Modern Linear, Mid Century Modern Florals, Mid Century Modern Frames (sentiment)
• Ink: Altenew - Moss, Olive, Parrot, Orange Cream, Autumn Blaze, Aqualicious; Versafine Clair - Nocturne

For more projects by the talented Bev and my fellow Brand Ambassadors, please do pop over to the main Uniko blog, here, to see this new stamp in action.

The new products will be available to purchase from the Uniko website from 13 January at 10am GMT.

I'll be back with more inspiration using another of the new products tomorrow.

Uniko January 2023 Mini Release - Sneak Peeks

Happy Monday and Happy New Year! (a bit late, I know!)

Bev has been working hard behind the scenes over at Uniko and has a mini release coming up later this week.  The products in this mini release are additions to Bev's already fantastic Mid Century Modern range and work so brilliantly with the stamps and stencils already available.

Without further ado, here are some sneak peeks for you

Please be sure to pop back here and to the Uniko blog, here, over the next few days for the introductions and to see samples from myself and my fellow Brand Ambassadors.

They will be available on the Uniko website, here, from Friday 13 January at 10am GMT.  Hope to see you soon.

Pigs in Blankets

Hi there

Back with my final little batch of Christmas cards I made this year. 

I followed the same design as the Flamingo cards in my last post, but this time used another of my new favourite Clearly Besotted stamp sets, Pigs in Blankets.

Again, I made six of these in total, using all the images stamped twice...

All the pigs were stamped in black and coloured with Copics before fussy cutting them out.  I then prepped all my card bases.  I began with a strip of masking tape just below the centre and then blended the background with blue ink.  With the masking tape still in place I inked through a snow stencil with white pigment ink.

I used my MISTI to then position and stamp all the sentiments one after the other.  I sorted the pig images and worked out where I wanted them all then added some shading with a grey marker before adhering them in place with some glue dots.  Just a slim amount of dimension so they were still flat enough to mail.

On these cards I added some shimmer amongst the snowflakes and also in the shaded areas with a sparkle pen.

Here are all six finished cards...

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Pigs in Blankets
• Stencil: Clearly Besotted - Snow Day
• Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black; Distress Oxide - Salty Ocean; Hero Arts - Unicorn; Versafine Clair - Nocturne
• Coloured with Copics
• Accents: Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pen - Clear

So there you have it, I've now shared all my 2022 makes.  Although I've been a lot quieter than usual this year, since stepping down from the challenge Design Teams, I hope I've managed to inspire you with some of my projects.

I'll be back next week with some new Brand Ambassador Inspiration from Uniko.

So, all that's left to say is, I wish you a

and all the best for a happy, healthy, safe and crafty 2023!

Crafty hugs,

Fa La La Mingo!

Hi there

More of my Christmas makes and I wanted to use one of my newest stamp sets, Fa La La Mingo by Clearly Besotted.

I made six of these in total, using all the images stamped twice.  These were fairly time consuming as I had to colour all the images and fussy cut them all out.

All the flamingos were stamped in black and coloured with Copics before fussy cutting them out.  I still need more practice with Copic colouring but as I was colouring feathers I think these look pretty good!  I then prepped all my card bases.  I began with a strip of masking tape just below the centre and then blended the background with blue ink.  With the masking tape still in place I inked through a snow stencil with white pigment ink.

I used my MISTI to then position and stamp all the sentiments one after the other.  I sorted the flamingos and worked out where I wanted them all then added some shading with a grey marker before adhering them in place with some glue dots.  Just a slim amount of dimension so they were still flat enough to mail.

As you've got to have sparkle at Christmas, I added some shimmer to the flamingos' hats with a sparkle pen.  Don't look too closely at the fussy cutting, not my best work when crafting to a deadline! :D 

Here are all six finished cards...

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Fa La La Mingo
• Stencil: Clearly Besotted - Snow Day
• Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black; Distress Oxide - Salty Ocean; Hero Arts - Unicorn; Versafine Clair - Nocturne
• Coloured with Copics
• Accents: Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pen - Clear

Just one more bundle of makes to share, not too dissimilar to these.  I'll be back very soon.