[Uniko Studio] April 2014 Release - Bonus Design Team Blog Hop

Hi everyone. We are finally able to celebrate the April Release the Uniko Studio way. Poor Bev has been battling all those "not in her control" factors, but we all finally have those products in our hands and wanna show you some ideas with these new cool stamps.

This card showcases Background Builders: Vines and since Mother's Day is around the corner, this is the perfect set.

Background Builders: Vines

The inspiration for my card came from watching this video by the ever so talented Jennifer McGuire. I picked gold as my center, focal point and this nice, big sentiment from All Occasion Sentiments #5. I started with embossing the center sentiment with Ranger Gold Embossing Powder.

I started with stamping the larger blooms in Eggplant, followed by adding some of the smaller flower accents in Ocean and Winter. I then tried to fill in the white spaces with the second largest flowers in the set Lollipop. I love that the roses come in solid as well as the details of the petals. With just two stamping passes, the cute pink roses come quickly to life. I love the added dimensions that the roses have, don't you? After that I stamped a bunch of little detailed dots in Delicata Gold to tie everything together.

The background is Background Builders Circles stamped in Versamark and then embossed with clear Stamp 'n Stuff embossing powder. This just finishes the card up together with a little bit of more detail without detracting from the center.

Make sure to visit all the girl's creations. Here is the list for easy perusing.

• Amber
• Erika
• Gillian
• N@ Ali
• Nicki
• Ren-Yi
• Taheerah

Bev will also be drawing a lucky winner amongst the blog to win the entire April Release or a gift certificate of equal value, if you already own the goodies. You have until May 30th, 11:59 BST.

All Occasion Sentiments #5 Clear Stamps	Background Builders: Round In Circles Clear Stamps	Papertrey Ink - Perfect Match Cardstock - Plum Pudding	Papertrey Ink - Paper Basics - Stamper's Select White Cardstock (40 Sheets)
*Versamark WATERMARK Rubber Stamp Emboss Chalk Resist INK PAD	*Ranger EMBOSSING POWDER GOLD Rubber Stamp Ink	*Mama Elephant LOLLIPOP Creative Color Ink Pad ME-LOLLI	*Mama Elephant EGGPLANT Creative Color Ink Pad ME-EGG
*Mama Elephant OCEAN Creative Color Ink Pad ME-OCE	*Mama Elephant WINTER Creative Color Ink Pad ME-WIN	*Tsukineko GOLDEN GLITZ Delicata Pigment Ink Pad	*Stampendous STAMP N STUFF Fine Opaque White Embossing Powder DP100

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It's a Good Day to be Happy

I've been really digging this Up & Away set from Mama Elephant, so here is another go at the challenge inspiration from Mama Elephant...

The white in this picture really got me itching to ink in white. And I love white ink on kraft. It's one of my favorite go-to combinations.



I also love the pops of color in the picture, which inspired me to color the balloons with some Ranger Distress Inks. 

Here is a upclose look of the white on kraft. I used Hero Hues Unicorn with the Hero Arts Cloud background I love how lush the ink stamps. The rest of the main focal point is colored with Distress Inks and a water brush.



I cut out this cute little guy and the balloons are also cut out and popped onto the card.



Looking at this lil cute guy makes me smile, so here is hoping that this guy brings lots of smile to my friend, too :)

*Mama Elephant Clear Stamp UP AND AWAY Set ME1306-035	*Bazzill KRAFT Classic Paper Pack Heavy Weight 12 x 12 Cardstock	*Bazzill WHITE Double Thick Cardstock 15 Pack	*Tim Holtz DISTRESS INK PAD DUSTY CONCORD Purple Ranger
*Tim Holtz DISTRESS INK PAD PEACOCK FEATHERS Ranger SPRING	*Tim Holtz DISTRESS INK PAD DRIED MARIGOLD Orange Ranger	*Tim Holtz DISTRESS INK PAD PICKED RASPBERRY Ranger SUMMER	*Tim Holtz Distress Ink PAD VINTAGE PHOTO Brown Ranger
*Tim Holtz DISTRESS INK PAD ANTIQUE LINEN Brown Ranger	*Hero Arts Rubber Stamp Designblock CLOUDS s5215	*Hero Arts Memories Rubber Stamp DYE Ink Pad UNICORN 2012 White AF217	*Tsukineko MEMENTO Full Size Ink Pad TUXEDO BLACK
*VersaFine ONYX BLACK Ink Pad Pigment

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It's a Good Day to be Happy

Hey girls - I'm finally uploading some non Design Team projects. Believe it or not, I had some time to just play. OK, granted, I should be working on wedding invitations or baby shower invitations or DT homework, but instead I decide Birthday cards and Wedding cards were more important ;)

I'm starting off with this challenge inspiration from Mama Elephant

I was also determined to finally join this century of crafters and try embossing paste. My incredible teacher was no other than the expert Joy Ott herself ;) She's a natural at walking me through this and I had a lot of fun playing.

Here is my finished card...



My starting point was this cute little Mama Elephant set. I needed a birthday card and these Cosmic Stars needed to be inked up!

The glass inspired me to play with clear embossing paste. But before we get to that, I wanted to create a soft but contrasting water-color background for the starts. Turns out that I was being to soft smushing down the Distress Ink color on the Tim Holtz Watercolor paper. The way to get a nice bold application is to really smush the blender with lots of color really into the paper. Yes, smush is a technical term ;) A little bit of water spritzing and some help with the heat gun, and the background was ready for some embossing paste.

For someone who bakes a lot, applying the embossing paste reminds me like frosting cakes (or cupcakes). First there is this palette knife (hello: icing spatula)

Photo Credit: Simon Says Stamps

vs.

Then there is this paste, which just looks and feels like creamy vanilla icing.

Photo Credit: Tami Spencer

vs.

Photo Credit: Betty Crocker

Just remember not to try to lick your palette knife. I'm sure your taste buds would be sorely disappointed. The good news is that the embossing paste goes down very smoothly. Joy gave me the hint to tape down the stencil to make sure it's flushed against the card stock and won't move while you are applying it.



I also played around with Distress Markers for the first time. It only took me 4 tries to color this wee little Aries before I liked the outcome. For me it's easier to start out with a water brush and pick up color. But this time I wanted to use the markers first, then push the colors around with the water brush. Maybe a bit more practice and I can go both ways.

This little cutie also has some Wink of Stella applied to his horns, to give him a little bit of a celestial look. Unfortunately the camera didn't pick this up, so you'll just have to take my word for it - HA!

Since I didn't want to cover up the cute little starts in the front, I decided to stamp the sentiment into the card. This one from the Mama Elephant Up & Away  is one that I find myself grabbing a lot. It's just so fun & versatile: birthday, pick-me-up, random hello.

So who is this amazing Joy? She's the gal on the right chilling with another of my all time favorite gals, Christy. If anyone can make you into an embossing paste fanatic, it's her ;) And this pic makes me smile...



After all, it's always a good day to be happy, right? Happy Saturday.

*PREORDER Mama Elephant Clear Stamp COSMIC STARS Set ME1301-013	*Mama Elephant Clear Stamp UP AND AWAY Set ME1306-035	*Simon Says Stamp Stencil FALLING STARS SSST121332	*Wendy Vecchi WHITE EMBOSSING PASTE Studio 490
*Ranger Inkssentials Ink Application & Blending Tool Blend Blender 23616	*Tim Holtz DISTRESS INK PAD SALTY OCEAN Ranger SUMMER	*Hero Arts Water MIST SPRAY BOTTLE Mister	*ZIG Wink of Stella GLITTER CLEAR Brush Tip Marker 025320
*Tim Holtz Distress MARKERS WORN LIPSTICK Ranger TDM32779	*Tim Holtz Distress MARKERS TUMBLED GLASS Ranger TDM32717	*Tim Holtz Distress MARKERS WILD HONEY Ranger TDM32762	*Tim Holtz Distress MARKERS ANTIQUE LINEN Ranger TDM32434
*Bazzill WHITE Double Thick Cardstock 15 Pack	*Tim Holtz DISTRESS WATERCOLOR CARDSTOCK Ranger Ink TDA39549	*VersaFine ONYX BLACK Ink Pad Pigment

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