Uniko - Super Sunday Guest Designer Spot

Good morning, everyone

Today I'm super excited as I'm being featured in Uniko's Super Sunday Guest Designer Spot.  I was so honoured when I received the invitation from the lovely Bev and I've had great fun creating with lots of my Uniko stamps.

This post is a bit photo heavy as I got a bit carried away and created quite a few cards, once I started I couldn't stop!  I've centred all these cards around Uniko's current themes of love, kindness and friendship, I hope you like them.

Card #1

For this first sweet card I combined stamps from Uniko's Background Builders Classics and Simply Said sets...

I die cut a heart window first in my upper panel and then marked the area on the card base that would show through the aperture, masked it off then stamped the various border designs in varying shades of pink.  The sentiment was heat embossed in white to show through the raised panel.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - Background Builders Classics, Simply Said
• Dies: Xcut - Heart Nesting Dies; Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles
• Ink: Altenew - Frosty Pink, Coral Berry, Ruby Red, Grapevine; VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Brutus Monroe - Alabaster White

Cards #2 and #3

For these two love themed cards I used the Scattered Polka Hearts background stamp and sentiments from the You Are…Sentiments Outlined set...

For this first one I heat embossed the background hearts in white and used emboss resist to blend over the top with Distress Oxides in a diagonal gradient.  I then used a vellum wrap with the sentiment heat embossed in white.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - Scattered Polka Hearts, You Are...Sentiments Outlined
• Ink: Distress Oxide - Spun Sugar, Picked Raspberry, Festive Berries; VersaMark
• Die: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles
• Embossing Powder: Brutus Monroe - Alabaster White
• Vellum from stash

And an alternative using the same stamp sets...

This one is a similar design but in reverse.  I used my MISTI to stamp the polka hearts multiple times, creating a gradient of pale to deep pink.  Here I heat embossed the sentiment on a die cut heart from black cardstock and popped it up on 3D foam.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - Scattered Polka Hearts, You Are...Sentiments Outlined
• Dies: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles; Xcut - Heart Nesting Dies
• Ink: Altenew - Frosty Pink, Coral Berry, Ruby Red; VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Brutus Monroe - Alabaster White

Card #4

My next make used the gorgeous Bee Happy stamp set...

I adhered some honeycomb/hexagon patterned paper to the lower half of my card base and then die cut an angled stitched edge from my upper panel.  This was then stamped in black, grey and honey shades using various stamps all from the same set, with a little Copic colouring on the bee.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - Bee Happy
• Ink: Altenew - Sunkissed; Hero Arts - Soft Granite; Memento - Tuxedo Black
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Stitched Basic Edges
• Patterned Paper - Doodlebug - Kraft in Color (kraft)

Card #5

This selection of Uniko creations wouldn’t be complete without using one of the Flower Power sets, and here I’ve combined blooms from Flower Power #2 with leaves from Natures Treasures II and the sentiment from Hello Lovely...

I used really bright summer colours here, started with the leaves and then stamped and die cut the flowers, using their co-ordinating dies, before adhering them in a cluster on glue dots.  The stamped sentiment and some vertical score lines finished off this one layer card.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - Flower Power #2 (and companion dies), Natures Treasures II, Hello Lovely
• Ink: Altenew - Pinkalicious, Orange Cream, Maple Yellow, Parrot; Versafine - Onyx Black

Card #6

I chose stamps from Just Because, Beautiful and Hello Lovely for this friend card...

On a pale green panel I stamped the same image in different orientations both in green and also heat embossed in white.  The sentiment was heat embossed on a green strip and a further smaller strip adhered on 3D foam.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - Just Because, Beautiful, Hello Lovely
• Die: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles
• Ink: Altenew - Frayed Leaf; VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Brutus Monroe - Alabaster White

Card #7

It wasn’t until I was making these that I realised how much the flower stem from the You Are, Yes You set resembled the flower in my blog logo!  I combined it here with the Background Builders Pinstripe II stamp and the sentiment from Originally Organic Additions.  I also thought I'd work with my blog colours too...

I stamped the flower in a pale ink before colouring with Copics and then masking it to stamp the pinstripes.  With the stem stamp still in my MISTI, I then restamped it over the original image before heat embossing in white. 

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - You Are Yes You, Background Blocks Pinstripe II, Originally Organic Additions
• Die: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles
• Ink: Memento - London Fog; Altenew - Mountain Mist; VersaMark; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Embossing Powder: Brutus Monroe - Alabaster White
• Coloured with Copic markers

I'm linking up with the following challenges:

Card #1

Sweet Stampin' - Love

NBUS - Challenge #22 - both stamp sets are new to my stash for this GD spot

Card #2

Alphabet Challenge - V is for Vellum

Card #7

Just Us Girls - Challenge #569 - Masking

Fusion - Flowers (using the inspiration photo)

Thanks so much for taking a look at my cards today and I hope they have given you some crafty inspiration.

And many thanks to Bev for thinking of me and for providing this Guest Designer spot.  I thoroughly enjoyed making all of these.

Guest Designer for Honey Doo Crafts - Selection Three

Hi guys

Tonight I'm sharing the last few of my makes for my Guest Designer spot with Honey Doo Crafts. 

The new sets will be showcased on TV shopping channel, Hochanda tomorrow, 3 April 2019 at 12pm and 4pm BST so please do tune in if you can (Sky 673 / Freeview 85).


So, my cards today have used three more of the new sets I've yet to share.

First up is a shaker card I made using a lovely set called Peony Crest...

To begin I blended a little pale pink ink on the card base and stamped the sentiment.  I then created the offset oval shaker window using a oval stitched die, backed with acetate, and edged the panel with a stitched rectangle die.  The panel was popped up on 3D foam strips, trapping the confetti shaker bits inside.  I then stamped, coloured and fussy cut the main peony crest image and adhered to the panel.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Honey Doo Crafts - Peony Crest
• Ink: Distress Ink - Spun Sugar; Memento - Tuxedo Black
• Dies: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles; Lil Inkers - Stitched Ovals
• Coloured with ProMarkers
• Shaker Contents: Nuvo Pure Sheen Confetti - Diamond Harlequin; Little Things from Lucy's Cards - Itty Bitty Stars (Neon Bright)

For this next card I used the small images from a new set called Garden Peony to create a background pattern...

I stamped and coloured the panel the same size as the card base.  I then used a border die to cut away an inner section (I can use the cut away part on another card).  The remaining two parts of the panel were popped up on fun foam and the sentiment stamped between, directly onto the card base.  Simples!

Materials used:

• Stamps: Honey Doo Crafts - Garden Peony, Peony Crest (sentiment)
• Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black
• Coloured with ProMarkers
• Die: Avery Elle - Dotted Border Dies

And a nice sunny card to complete my selection, using a set called Hello Sunshine...

I masked the card base and blended ink through a sun ray stencil for the central background.  I then created a frame using two rectangle dies and stamped the sentiment along the top before popping up on foam strips.  I then stamped the sunflowers onto watercolour paper and watercoloured with my Zig markers.  The image was then fussy cut out, adhered over the base, using foam pads to pop up the parts within the frame, and then the edges were trimmed to align with the card base.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Honey Doo Crafts - Hello Sunshine
• Ink: Distress Ink - Squeezed Lemonade, Spiced Marmalade; Versafine - Onyx Black; Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers
• Stencil: MFT - Sun Ray
• Dies: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles

Challenge entry:

Allsorts - Challenge #513 - Use Yellow


Thanks so much for all your lovely visits and comments, I appreciate each and every one of you.  And I hope you love these new stamps and enjoy the show tomorrow if you are able to watch it, unfortunately I'll be at work during both shows so I'll be catching up afterwards.

Guest Designer for Honey Doo Crafts - Selection Two

Hi guys

I'm back tonight to share my next batch of samples for the new release at Honey Doo Crafts.

Earlier, Amanda held a Facebook Live video showing the ten new stamp sets, along with all the samples from the whole design team which you can find, here.

And don't forget Honey Doo will be on Hochanda (Sky 673 / Freeview 85) this coming Wednesday 3 April 2019 so tune in if you can, if not, set your planners as I believe Amanda will be doing lots of demos along with showcasing the products.


Ok, on to my next few samples.

First up I used a stamp called Smell The Roses which is a truly beautiful image...

To create this one I heat embossed the image in white on watercolour paper and watercoloured it with Inktense pencils.  I added a little pale blue watercolour around the edge of the image just to lift it off the background a little.  I then used a paper trimmer to slice away part of the panel and fussy cut around the edge.  I stamped the sentiment and then popped the panel up over the card base which had a black strip adhered to the right hand side.  This is a CASE of a previous card I made, here, which used partial die cutting to create the same look.  So you don't need the co-ordinating dies to create this effect.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Honey Doo Crafts - Smell The Roses, Happy Times
• Ink: VersaMark; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Embossing Powder: Altenew - Pure White
• Watercoloured with Derwent Inktense pencils

Challenge entries:

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #334 - CAS

Creative with Stamps - Challenge #37 - Birthday

Next up I used the new Daisy May stamp set.  I was inspired by a card by the super talented May Park, here.  The stamps I used were a linear design as opposed to May's card which used solid images, so I chose to emboss it in gold and pair with orange tones.  I paired this with a sentiment from an existing Honey Doo set called Cheers...

I began with a panel of orange cardstock and stamped and heat embossed the daisy image in gold multiple times to create a frame.  I then blended Distress Inks in from the edge in co-ordinating shades to create ombre effect.  I finished by stamping the sentiment in black ink and heat embossed it in clear.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Honey Doo Crafts - Daisy May, Cheers
• Orange cardstock from stash
• Ink: VersaMark; Distress Ink - Ripe Persimmon, Barn Door, Black Soot; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Embossing Powder: Wow - Metallic Gold Rich, Clear Gloss

Next up is this gorgeous floral cluster image called Roses and Lilies...

I stamped and heat embossed the floral image in white onto vellum and coloured on the reverse with ProMarkers.  I then did some partial trimming, cutting away a vertical section but stopping where the image was and fussy cutting around the edge.  The vellum panel was then wrapped around an embossed panel and secured on the reverse.  The panel was popped up on fun foam and I finished with a sentiment embossed in white on textured lilac cardstock, die cut with a pierced square.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Honey Doo Crafts - Roses and Lilies, Birthday Sentiments
• Ink: VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Altenew - Pure White
• Coloured with ProMarkers
• Embossing Folder: We R Memory Keepers - Next Level (Wave)
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Pierced Square Stax

Challenge entries:

The Paper Players - Challenge #435 - Tic-Tac-Toe (die-cut / embossing / floral)

Just Us Girls - Challenge #481 - Embossing Folder

Finally, the last one for this post is a really simple card I made using the new Oopsie Daisy set...

For this one I grabbed some scraps of cardstock and cut strips of varying widths and adhered these alternately to a piece of thinner cardstock.  The daisy image was then stamped across the strips.  I then die cut the pierced curve from each side of the strip  I also did the same from the front edge of the card base, and adhered the striped panel aligning with the edge.  I then stamped the sentiment vertically on the inside of the card but as it's cut away it shows when the card is closed.  I love this sentiment, it could be ideal for an 'oopsie I forgot' belated card, or perhaps to send to someone who has had some sort of mishap, or if you've messed up and want to apologise.  So lots of uses :)

Materials used:

• Stamps: Honey Doo Crafts - Oopsie Daisy
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black
• Die: Avery Elle - Dotted Borders Dies
• Card scraps from stash

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I'l be sharing my last few samples with you tomorrow, ahead of the shows on Hochanda on Wednesday.  If you can't wait until then, all the new sets are available to buy direct from the Honey Doo website, here.

Guest Designer for Honey Doo Crafts - Selection One

Hi there

I'm excited to share the news that I'm once again joining Honey Doo Crafts as a Guest Designer for their latest release.

There are ten new stamp sets, all lovely floral designs that Amanda and the team do so well, and all so perfect for Spring.

The new sets will be showcased on TV shopping channel, Hochanda on 3 April 2019 at 12pm and 4pm BST so please do tune in if you can (Sky 673 / Freeview 85).

Honey Doo are also doing a Facebook Live on 1 April 2019 at 7pm BST which you can find here where they will be showing the new stamp sets in full detail.


Ok, onto my first few samples.

This first card uses a lovely new set and I think it's my favourite from this release, called Repot Rose!...

Here, I masked off my card base and used the emboss resist technique where I stamped and heat embossed the image in white and blended with Distress Oxides.  I then die cut the top panel and created a circular aperture, stamped the sentiment from the same set and popped the panel up on 3D foam.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Honey Doo Crafts - Repot Rose!
• Ink: VersaMark; Distress Oxide - Picked Raspberry, Shaded Lilac; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Embossing Powder: Altenew - Pure White
• Dies: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles; Hero Arts - Infinity Circle Dies

Challenge entries:

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #334 - CAS

AAA Cards - CAS Game #136 - One Image + Spring

Next up is the Repot Rose! set again, but it looks completely different in a sepia design...

I used a cream base and panel here, stamped the image in Distress Ink and watercoloured, drawing in the stamped ink and adding more watercolour details with the same ink.  I stamped the sentiment from the same set in a co-ordinating ink and then added gold watercolour to the flower centres and some gold splatters.  Then panel was popped up on fun foam.  The gold detail can be seen more clearly here...

Materials used:

• Stamps: Honey Doo Crafts - Repot Rose!
• Ink: Distress Ink - Gathered Twigs; Altenew - Espresso
• Paint: Gansai Tambi Watercolours

The following card uses a new set called Summer Blossom, and the sentiment from the Repot Rose! set...

On a panel of lavender cardstock I initially stamped the image in a pale grey ink, before adding some highlights with coloured pencils.  It's easier to add the detail before embossing the image and if using a stamp positioner such as a MISTI this allows you to restamp in exactly the same spot.  I then restamped and heat embossed in white.  The sentiment was stamped in a co-ordinating ink, the panel adhered flat to the card base and some jewels added to finish.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Honey Doo Crafts - Summer Blossom, Repot Rose!
• Ink: VersaMark; Altenew - Hydrangea
• Embossing Powder: Altenew - Pure White
• Coloured with Faber Castell Polychromos
• Die: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles
• Accents: Little Things from Lucy's Cards - Grape Mix Jewels

My final card in this first selection uses a gorgeous new set called What's Up Buttercup?...

I used the same process as the last card for this image, stamping in a yellow ink first, colouring with ProMarkers and adding detail with coloured pencils.  I then restamped and heat embossed in white.  Some polka dot paper was added to the card base, and the panel die cut with a curved edge and adhered flat.  The sentiment from the same set was stamped in green onto a die cut oval and popped up on 3D foam.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Honey Doo Crafts - What's Up Buttercup?
• Ink: VersaMark; Altenew - Hunters Green
• Embossing Powder: Altenew - Pure White
• Coloured with ProMarkers and Faber Castell Polychromos
• Dies: MFT Die-namics - Stitched Basic Edges; Lil Inkers - Classic Ovals
• Patterned Paper: Lawn Fawn - Let's Polka

Challenge entry:

Allsorts - Challenge #513 - Use Yellow

Here's a snapshot of all the new sets...

Thanks so much for stopping by, I'll be sharing my samples using the rest of these new sets ahead of the TV shows on Hochanda on 3 April, so would love for you to pop back and take a look.

Enjoy your weekend :)

Guest Designer for Honey Doo Crafts - Selection Three

Hi there

I'm back this morning to share my final batch of samples as Guest Designer using the latest product release from Honey Doo Crafts, ahead of their shows on Hochanda later today (scroll to the end for the show times and channels).

Amanda designs such beautiful floral stamps, so grab a brew and scroll down to see what I did with them.

For my first two cards I've used the new Spring Time Blooms set, in very different ways.  Here's the first...

I began by stamping lots of the leaves and one of the flowers on vellum and heat embossing in white, then I die cut with the co-ordinating dies.  Before adhering into a wreath shape I lightly drew a circle with pencil on the card base and blended ink through the Mesh stencil.  I erased the pencil line then adhered the leaves with glue dots, overlapping each one.  I then stamped a further flower on white cardstock, blended with Distress Oxide inks and adhered the vellum flower on top to soften the colour.  The layered flower was then also adhered using glue dots.  I stamped a sentiment within the centre of the wreath and added some Nuvo drops to finish.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Honey Doo Crafts - Spring Time Blooms (and co-ordinating dies), Hopeful and Happy Quotes
• Stencil: Honey Doo Crafts - Mesh
• Ink: VersaMark; Distress Oxide - Abandoned Coral, Squeezed Lemonade; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Embossing Powder: Altenew - Pure White
• Vellum from stash
• Accents: Nuvo Jewel Drops - Rosewater

Challenge entries:

Happy Little Stampers - February Anything Goes with Dies Challenge

The Flower Challenge - Challenge #29 - Use Your Latest Stamps or Dies

I can't take credit for the design of this next card as I was inspired by a card I saw on Instagram, by Kards By Kristen, who in turn was inspired by a card she'd seen over on the Altenew page.  I loved the tone on tone grey with the metallic embossing so made this next, more CAS version, using the Spring Time Blooms stamps for a completely different look...

I stamped the flowers and leaves, masking in places, using VersaMark on a mid grey cardstock and then heat embossed in silver.  I then added detailing just to the flowers with some grey ProMarkers.  I trimmed the panel down and adhered it to a black card base.  To finish I stamped the sentiment, also heat embossed in silver and die cut it using a stitched rectangle.  This was then matted onto a panel of black and popped up on 3D foam.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Honey Doo Crafts - Spring Time Blooms, Happy Times
• Ink: VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Silver
• Coloured with ProMarkers
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Wonky Stitched Rectangles

For the next two cards I used the new Butterflies and Flowers Large Corner stamp and co-ordinating die, this is such an elegant design...

Have you ever had an idea in your head and then once you get going you wish you'd never started?!  Well, that happened here but I'm glad I persevered.  I wanted to do some inset stamping, within the negative space of the die cut, but I greatly mis-judged all the itty bitty in-betweeny bits there were with this die! Yikes!!!

I started with a single white cardstock panel the same size as the card base.  I die cut the design and then laid the panel over the card base.  Using my MISTI (hallelujah for that gadget!) I lined up the stamp in the aperture and then inked it up and stamped the image directly onto the card base.  I then coloured the petals with some co-ordinating coloured pencils.

Then came the fiddly bit...to replace all the negative die cut bits!  The plan was to pop the panel up on 3D foam but this just wasn't possible with so many inset parts.  So, I stamped the sentiment on the panel then adhered it flat to the base.  I then temporarily replaced the positive part of the die cut, glued all the tiddlers in between and then removed the positive part.  It's not as dramatic as I envisioned but it worked...phew!

To finish, I added some smooth silver gemstones to the flower centres.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Butterflies and Flowers Large Corner (and co-ordinating die); Just in Case
• Ink: Altenew - Lagoon, Emerald
• Coloured with Faber Castell Polychromos
• Smooth gemstones from stash

I once again used the Butterflies and Flowers Large Corner stamp and die here, but the positive die cut this time...

I stamped the image in VersaMark and heat embossed using a pearl powder, why do I do this knowing full well it will be a nightmare to photograph?!  I die cut it with the co-ordinating die and then added some watercolour to the petals using my Zig markers.  On the card base I masked off the bottom and the left borders and faded out some ink blending with Distress Inks.  The sentiment was stamped in grey before popping the die cut up on 3D foam squares.  Below is a much better image, capturing the pearly embossing...

Materials used:

• Stamps: Honey Doo Crafts - Butterfly and Flowers Large Corner (and co-ordinating die), Hopeful and Happy Quotes
• Ink: VersaMark; Distress Ink - Picked Raspberry, Spun Sugar; Versa Color - Sky Gray; Zig Clean Colour Real Brush Markers
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - White Pearl

And finally, this last card uses another great floral set called Buds and Blooms...

On a panel of purple cardstock I spread some embossing paste through the Mesh stencil and left this to dry.  On some white cardstock I stamped the flowers and leaves and heat embossed in white.  I then used emboss resist to colour them by blending with Distress Oxide inks.  These were then fussy cut out.  The purple panel was adhered flat and the images were arranged and adhered using glue dots.  I finished by stamping the sentiment onto a die cut flag and tucked this behind the flowers.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Honey Doo Crafts - Buds and Blooms, Just in Case
• Stencil: Honey Doo Crafts - Mesh
• Embossing Paste: Dreamweaver
• Embossing Powder: Altenew - Pure White
• Ink: VersaMark; Distress Oxide - Peacock Feathers, Shaded Lilac, Wilted Violet
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Fishtail Flag Stax

Don't forget, Honey Doo Crafts will be live on Hochanda today (Freeview 85 / Sky 673) at 12pm and 4pm, so tune in if you can to see these great new products in more detail.

Thanks so much for visiting, I hope you've enjoyed my samples.  And I want to send a massive thank you to Amanda and the Honey Doo team for asking me to join them again as Guest Designer :)