Uniko Brand Ambassador Inspiration - 3 Stamp Sets 1, One-Layer Card

Good morning

I'm back with some Uniko Brand Ambassador Inspiration today.

I was recently tasked with making an 18th birthday card for my godson and masculine cards are the kind I find the most difficult, so to make one for an older teenager was even more daunting!  I had a rummage through my Uniko stash and decided to combine three stamp sets: Big & Bold Happy, Background Blocks Halftone and Explosion!

And other than the number dies I adhered, this is a completely flat, one layer card with all the elements stamped directly on the card base.  For full details of how this was made, take a look at my post over on the Uniko blog, here.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - Big & Bold Happy, Background Blocks Halftone, Explosion!
• Ink: Altenew - Autumn Blaze, Nimbus, Olive, Vineyard Berry; Versafine Clair - Nocturne
• Dies: Spellbinders - Be Bold Lowercase Alphabet and Numbers

I was really pleased with how this one turned out and I hope this gives you some inspiration for those trickier masculine designs.

Enjoy the rest of your week, and with the Easter weekend approaching we are already past the halfway point of the working week.  Mustn't grumble, eh!  I hope you have some lovely plans for the long weekend.

 

Who's Turning 50?

Hi there

Just popping on this morning to share a card I recently made for a friend who was celebrating a milestone birthday.

This is a one layer card using just stamps and ink...

The stripes are one large stamp so I used masks to section off and ink up each strip one by one in a pastel rainbow.  I then simply stamped the black images over the top.  And done!

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - Background Blocks Horizontal Stripe; CAS-ual Fridays -WTF 2
• Ink: Altenew - Citrus Burst, Minty Mint, Sea Glass, Wisteria, Pink Diamond, Blush, Peach Perfect; Versafine - Onyx Black

Challenge entries:

Seize the Birthday - Challenge #220 - Stripes

Thanks so much for taking a look, I hope you have a lovely week.  I'll be back with more tomorrow.

60th Balloons and Stars

Hi there

Tonight I'm sharing a card I made for a work colleague's 60th birthday.  

I always struggle with masculine designs but I'm liking the grey/blue/silver combo here.  And I've had some pearlescent sheets of ready cut mini envelopes in my stash for YEARS so used one of them here.  

Apologies for the lighting in these photos, I couldn't free up my usual spot on my table before this one had to go in the mail so I had to wing it at my craft desk and hope for the best!

I began by die cutting a rectangle from grey cardstock and two squares, one from white cardstock and another from polka dot paper.  I layered these up and stamped the sentiment.  I folded up the mini envelope and adhered it in place, then adhered a selection of die cut mini stars and two balloons stamped with the numbers and heat embossed in white.

Materials used:

• Dies: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles; MFT Die-namics - Pierced Square Stax, Stitched Strip (mini stars); Clearly Besotted - Got Your Number (balloons)
• Patterned Paper: MFT - Summertime Polka Dots
• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Message Me, Got Your Number
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black; VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Brutus Monroe - Alabaster White
• Cardstock and mini envelope from stash

Challenge entries:

Happy Little Stampers - March Anything Goes with Dies Challenge

STAMPlorations - March Theme and Photo Prompt Challenge (playing with stamps/numbers option)

Thanks for visiting today, I've got a few more projects to share over the next few days so please do pop back and take a look if you can.

Feline 50

Hi there

This is a card I made earlier in the year for a friend celebrating her 50th birthday.  

She is a cat-lover so a kitty just had to feature in the design...

I began with a die cut panel and stamped the kitty image off the bottom edge, then the sentiment which is part of a longer stamp.  Next I stencilled the balloon off the top edge, adding light and shade with the blending, before then stamping the numbers on the balloon.  I used a black fine liner pen to hand draw the balloon string ties around the balloon and the cat's tail.  To finish, I coloured the cat and the box with Copic markers and adhered the panel flat to the card base.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Simon Says Stamp - Furry Cat & Box; Lawn Fawn - Scripty Sayings; Clearly Besotted - Got Your Number
• Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black; Versafine - Onyx Black; Distress Ink - Picked Raspberry
• Stencil: MFT - Big Balloons
• Die: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles
• Coloured with Copics

Challenge entries:

Cupcake Inspirations - Challenge #514 - Cats

NBUS - Challenge #24 - First use of the kitty stamp which I bought in a de-stash sale

STAMPlorations - March Theme & Photo Challenge - 'Stamps and Numbers'

Thanks so much for popping by, I'll be back very soon with more to share.

Who's Turning 40

Hi guys

Back to share another make, this one being the card I made for a wonderful friend who turned 40 last month.

This was my first use of this stencil set by Birch Press, I love it!

I started with a die cut panel of white cardstock.  First I stamped all the images in black ink, and left the stamps in my MISTI ready for restamping later.  I stamped the WTF and the 40 onto post-it notes and cut these out to use as masks.  The stencilling was next, building up the layers one by one using Distress Oxide inks.  The masks were then removed and I restamped the images to sharpen up the black lines.  I mounted the panel onto a card base using fun foam then added some shimmer to the white sections using a sparkle pen.  I managed to pick up the sparkle in the next photo...

Materials used:

• Stamps: CAS-ual Fridays - WTF 2
• Stencils: Birch Press - Mandala Stencil Set
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black; Distress Oxides - Spun Sugar, Picked Raspberry, Wilted Violet, Peacock Feathers
• Die: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles
• Accents: Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pen - Clear

Challenge entries:

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #381 - Anything Goes
STAMPlorations - March Stencil Challenge
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Stencil Fun





I appreciate your visit, thanks so much :)

Hidden Sentiment Splats

Hi guys

Apologies for the silence here for almost two weeks.  I've been creating lots behind the scenes but haven't been able to share those yet, but they'll be up on here very soon.

On top of that I was unwell for a while, after finally fighting off my cold I then had chronic sinusitis so for about ten days I felt like I'd been kicked in the face.  But it's finally subsided and I'm feeling much better now.  I kind of lost almost the whole of March!

So, until I can share my DT makes, in the meantime I thought I'd pop in to share a card I made last week for my godson's 13th birthday, it only seems like a couple of years since I was at his Christening and now he's a teenager!  Where does the time go?

I really struggle with masculine cards and even more so when they are for teenagers, so I went with bright colours and splats!  Who knows why?! :D

On a panel of white cardstock the same size as the card base I blended ink through a splats stencil with Distress Inks.  I then die cut the happy birthday from the panel, being sure to save all the little in-betweeny bits.  I then die cut it twice more from some black cardstock.  I added adhesive all over the card base and adhered the panel.  I then adhered one of the black die cuts into the negative space, filling in the spaces with the bits saved from the first cut.  The second black die cut and the original layer were then stacked and adhered on top.  You can see the dimension in the next photo...

To finish I die cut two balloons from black cardstock, and also stamped and die cut the numbers.  These were adhered together and affixed to the card, and I hand drew the balloon strings.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Imagination Crafts - Splats
• Ink: Distress Ink - Blueprint Sketch, Twisted Citron, Peacock Feathers; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Dies: Paper Smooches - Happy Birthday Words; Clearly Besotted - Got Your Number
• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Got Your Number

Thanks so much for stopping by, I'll try not to leave it so long next time!

Unicorn Sparkles

Hi there

I'm popping back today to share this card I recently made for an order, for a little girl's birthday, the niece of a work colleague.

As well as being from her auntie it needed to include pink, glitter, her name and her age too.

Here's what I came up with...

I started by stamping the unicorn and colouring it with a mix of ProMarkers and FlexMarkers.  I used a cloud die to cut some pink and white glitter cardstock which I positioned and adhered along the top of the panel.  I die cut the letters for Izzy's name from the same pink glitter card and the number 9 from the white.  I die cut the balloon from some purple glitter polka dot card and drew the balloon string with a silver pen before adhering down the die cuts.  I stamped the sentiment in black before popping the panel up on 3D foam.  To finish I added some sparkle to the unicorn's horn and and hooves.  The sparkle can be seen much clearer below...

Materials used:

• Stamps: Azeeda - Proud Unicorn; Clearly Besotted - Sweet Little Family
• Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Coloured with ProMarkers and FlexMarkers
• Dies: MFT - Bottlecap Letters; PTI - Modern Numbers; Lawn Fawn - Puffy Cloud Borders; Clearly Besotted - Let's Party Die
• Accents: Spectrum Noir - Clear Sparkle pen; Signo Uniball pen - Silver

Thanks so much for popping by, I appreciate all my followers and visitors so much :)

First Birthday Unicorn

Hi there

Today I'm sharing a card I recently made for an order.  The brief was to make a personalised first birthday card featuring a unicorn and it had to be pink and sparkly.  The request was for the card to be fairly large which was a challenge in itself as, being a CAS card maker, I'm used to making standard A6 cards and often struggle to fill larger designs.  This one was A5.

Here it is, a lot busier than my regular designs but I was pleased with the result and I think I fulfilled the brief...

I started on the card base and used a stencil to create the pink and lilac clouds for the background.  Two panels were cut with stitched cloud border dies and set aside until I was ready to adhere them.  Next I stamped the unicorn, coloured with ProMarkers and fussy cut it out.  I die cut the stitched rainbow from a selection of cardstock scraps (and now have lots of bits remaining to make another five rainbows!)  Lots of die cutting was involved for this card!  Next I die cut the balloon from some textured lilac cardstock, then cut the lettering and number 1 from glitter cardstock, some in white for the balloon, and some in pink for the name.  It was then just a case of putting it all together and adhering in place.  I stamped the sentiment onto the front cloud panel before popping that one up on fun foam for some dimension, as well as popping up the unicorn.  And of course, no unicorn is complete without some sparkle so I added some clear Wink of Stella to finish the card.  The photo below picks up the sparkle a little better.

Materials used:

• Stencil: MFT - Mini Cloud Edges
• Ink: Distress Ink - Spun Sugar, Milled Lavender, Shaded Lilac; Versa Color - Heliotrope
• Stamps: Woodware - Unicorn
• Dies: Lawn Fawn - Puffy Cloud Borders; MFT Die-namics - Bottlecap Letters, Blueprints 26 (balloon), Stitched Rainbow; Papertrey Ink - Modern Numbers
• Coloured with ProMarkers
• Accents: Wink of Stella - clear

Challenge entries:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

Alphabet Challenge - M for Make Your Mark

Moving Along with the Times - Challenge #53 - Add a Number

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #257 - Make Your Mark

Thanks so much for popping by.  I'll be back in the morning with details of the next challenge over at Less is More.

50th Theatrical Balloons

Hi there

Earlier today I shared a shaker card I made for my friend's 40th using stencilled balloons, here.  Here's another version, this time a masculine card I made for a 50th birthday order, for a guy who loves his amateur dramatics.  This was made for my neighbour to give to her son.

As before, I stencilled the overlapping balloons with Distress Inks onto a white cardstock panel which I'd already printed with a theatre masks image.  I then die cut the sentiment and backed it with black cardstock before adhering the little bits from inside the letters back into position.  I die cut the numbers from a scrap of silver cardstock and heat embossed the 'son' sentiment in silver.  The panel was then adhered to the card base on 3D foam.  This was also a large card, made A5 size.

Materials used:

• Stencil: MFT - Big Balloons
• Ink: Distress Ink - Broken China, Crushed Olive, Blueprint Sketch, Spiced Marmalade; VersaMark
• Dies: MFT Die-namics - Happy Birthday to You; Papertrey Ink - Modern Numbers
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - My Hero
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Silver

Challenge entries:

CAS(E) this Sketch - Challenge #202

Crafty Creations - Challenge #330 - Masculine

Thanks for popping by.  I hope to share more Christmas card makes shortly.

40th Balloon Shaker

Hi guys

I made this card for my friend's 40th birthday last month so I thought I would share it today as a break from all the Christmas cards!

I absolutely love the MFT Big Balloons stencil I bought earlier this year, it's so versatile, and I decided to pair it with another MFT product, my recently purchased Happy Birthday to You die.

I cut a panel of white cardstock slightly smaller than my card base and blended ink through the balloon stencil, overlapping each one. I then die cut the Happy Birthday to You, making sure to keep all the little bits which create the inside of some of the letters.  I then adhered acetate to the reverse and created the shaker with some teeny silver/holographic flowers.  I adhered the panel onto the base using 3D foam and die cut the '40' from a scrap of silver cardstock.  All that was left to do then was adhere the fiddly bits to complete the letters, very carefully as I was adhering to acetate so they did want to slide around a bit.

Materials used:

• Stencil: MFT - Big Balloons
• Ink: Distress Ink - Picked Raspberry, Dusty Concord, Peacock Feathers
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Happy Birthday To You; Papertrey Ink - Modern Numbers
• Shaker flowers from stash

Challenge entry:

Happy Little Stampers - December Challenge - Anything Goes with Dies

I recently used this same design for another card which I will share in the next post.  This time for a male and a bespoke request.

Back soon.

Birthday Boy

Hi there

Back with another card I've not yet shared with you.

This one was made for my Godson for his 10th birthday.  It uses the same stencil as the card in my last post, but this time I used it to create the look of tyre tracks.

I started by masking and blending ink through sections of the stencil.  Next I die cut a stitched rectangle before stamping the car image and sentiment below.  This was popped up on 3D foam as was the dark red double stitched circle and numbers.

Materials used:

• Stencil: MFT - Diagonal Bars
• Dies: MFT Die-namics - Stitched Rectangles and Double Stitched Circles; PTI - Modern Numbers
• Stamps: Stampin' Up - Need for Speed; Clearly Besotted - In The Frame (discontinued)
• Ink: Distress Ink - Black Soot; Versa Color - Cardinal; Versafine - Onyx Black

Challenge entries:

Simply Create Too - Challenge #107 - Use Stitching (real or faux)

Crafty Creations - Challenge #313 - Stitching (real or fake)

613 Avenue Create - Challenge #171 - Anything Goes (optional twist - Masculine card)

Back soon with another make...

Cheeky Monkey

Hi there

I'm back to share a card I actually made in January for my friend's son but completely forgot to share it with you here.  I've found multiple challenges to link up to for this one so it's a good thing I forgot about it!

Still a fairly clean and simple design, albeit a little busier than my usual designs.  I haven't really made many cards for children so this was a bit of a challenge for me, but as he loves monkeys I knew exactly which stamp set to reach for.

I started by covering my card base with some green nature themed patterned paper.  Then, on a white cardstock panel I stamped the monkey and sentiment and coloured him in with my ProMarkers.  I die cut the number 8 from a scrap of matt silver cardstock and the leaves from some deep green cardstock which were placed over the whole card and the edges trimmed off.

Materials used:

• Patterned Paper: Stampin' Up - Summer Smooches 
• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Wild Thing
• Coloured with ProMarkers
• Dies: Clearly Besotted - Leafy Accents; Papertrey Ink - Modern Numbers

Challenge entries:

Penny Black and More - March Challenge - Feature a Creature

Simply Create Too - Challenge #104 - Use Green Only (a couple of the DT cards look like they have featured a couple of neutrals so I hope this one qualifies - please disregard if not)

Just Add Ink - Challenge #301 - Just Add Numbers

Seize the Birthday - Anything Goes

I Love ProMarkers - Challenge #303 - Use a Number

Thanks so much as always for popping by, I may be back with more tonight, if not definitely tomorrow evening :)

Less is More Week 251

Good morning

It's time for another new challenge at Less is More.  We are back with a theme challenge this week which is...

Numbers

Please remember to keep your creations clean and simple

So, I'll get straight to it with my samples...

I stamped five balloons in blue shades and die cut with their co-ordinating dies.  I then positioned them roughly where I wanted them and marked under each one with a pencil.  Further down the card I marked a central point then drew in the 'strings' with a fineliner pen.  The balloons where then adhered in place and the sentiment was stamped onto a panel, die cut using a stitched rectangle die.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Make a Wish; Paper Smooches - Birthday Sampler
• Dies: Clearly Besotted - Make a Wish; MFT Die-namics - Stitched Rectangles
• Ink: Versa Color - Cyan, Baby Blue, Royal Blue

Challenge entry:

Crafty Catz - Challenge #302 - Shades of Blue



And my second card...

I die cut a heart and embossed the sentiment and numbers with silver embossing powder.  I cut a smaller heart from a post-it note and placed this onto the white cardstock panel so I could blend out some distress inks, keeping the rough shape of the heart.  The embossed heart was then adhered onto the panel on 3D foam, as was the panel to the card base.

Materials used:

• Die: X-Cut - Nested Hearts
• Stamps: Uniko - Classic Numbers
• Ink: VersaMark; Distress Ink - Spun Sugar, Shaded Lilac
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Silver

Challenge entry:

CAS-ual Fridays - Challenge #145 - Precious Metals

Thanks so much for popping by, myself and my teamies would love for you to join us this week and we can't wait to see you in the gallery.

40th Berry Balloons

Hi guys

I completely forgot to share this card with you earlier.  It's a card I made for my brother to give to a mutual friend.

It may look familiar as I stamped and die cut these balloons when I made this card but ended up not using them.

The balloons were stamped in Versa Color inks and die cut using their co-ordinating dies.  I positioned them on a panel of white cardstock and marked with a pencil where I wanted them to sit before I drew the strings with a black fine liner pen.  The balloons were then secured with glue dots.  I die cut the 'happy' twice, once in white and once in a berry shade and adhered these together, slightly off centre, before adhering to the panel.  The '40th' was then stamped directly on the panel before it was popped up on 3D foam strips.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Wplus9 - Whole Lotta Happy; Uniko - Classic Numbers
• Ink: Versa Color - Cardinal, Raspberry, Boysenberry, Grape
• Dies: Wplus9 - Whole Lotta Happy; Clearly Besotted - Happy Word Die

Challenge entries:

Papertake Weekly Challenge - To Die For
CASology - Week 160 - Number
Seize the Birthday - Anything that Flies
Stamping Sensations - August Challenge - Anything Goes with a stamp and a die
Crazy for Challenges - Challenge #297 - Include the word Happy


Thanks for popping by.  That's all for now, back to stash sorting mode :)

Sketchy Time at Less is More

Hi guys

It's time for new challenge at Less is More and today we have a sketch for you.  It's super simple but can be interpreted in so many ways.  Here it is...

As always, please remember to keep your creations clean and simple.

I have two cards for you today using the sketch as my starting point.  Here's my first...

I cut a white panel of cardstock at an angle before embossing with a stripe embossing folder.  I adhered this to the card base and also adhered a thin strip of grey cardstock along the top edge.  I stamped the flowers and punched them out with the co-ordinating punch before adhering them along the grey strip with glue dots.  The sentiment was embossed in white onto some grey cardstock before cutting down and popping up on 3D foam.

Materials used:

• Embossing Folder: Darice - Stripe
• Stamps: Stampin' Up - Petite Petals (and co-ordinating punch); Clearly Besotted - A Little Sentimental
• Ink: Versa Color - Magenta, Marigold; VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow - Opaque Bright White

Challenge entries:

Crafty Catz - Challenge #289 - Flowers

Creative Inspirations - Challenge #323 - Flowers

Colour Me...! - Challenge #85

My second card was made for a friend who is turning 40, we all like to think we are still 29, right? :)

I covered the card base with some patterned paper.  I then cut a panel of white cardstock at an angle and stamped the sentiment in black.  I die cut the panel using a flower die and a dash line die along the top edge and then adhered this flat to the card base and added a white Doodlebug Sprinkle to the centre of the flower.

Materials used:

• Patterned Paper: Simple Stories - Enchanted
• Stamp: Paper Smooches - Birthday Sampler
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black
• Dies: Clearly Besotted - Flower Arrangement; Paper Smooches - Dots and Dashes
• Accents: Doodlebug Sprinkles - White Lily

Challenge entries:

CASology - Week 160 - Number

Paper Smooches - August 16-22 Anything Goes

Please pop by my teamies' blogs linked up over at Less is More and give them some love, and we would love to see you in our gallery this week.  

I'm not sure I'll have anything more to share with you for a few days as I'm trying to have a bit of craft stash organisation time.  It's a work in progress but it's driving me bonkers not being able to find what I need easily so it will be worth spending some time on it.

Take care and have a lovely weekend whatever you're up to.