[Uniko Studio] Challenge No. 11 - A Little Something...

Hi everyone - I can't believe the amazing turn-out on the last challenge. I hope we see a bunch of entries like we had last time. Let' see what you think of this month's challenge and color combo...

Photo Credit: Design Seed

And our theme this challenge is Happy Birthday. I decided to pull out a fun, older Background Builders: Squared set.



I only inked up a portion of the squares on my bock and then masked off any parts to make sure I got a nice clean 8x8 grid - stamped it a total of 4 times and lined them up. A tip is to take your time when lining them up. I absolutely love clear stamps exactly for this reason. I also wanted to color the grid in both violet and blue hues (for some reason, I only remembered the violet geode rock from the picture - and that's what I went with ;)

I wanted to play around with some mosaic and tiling concept, picked 2 hues of blue and 2 hues of violet. Then I added some interest by shading in each square slightly different.



The card is finished by adding a little wood veneer piece that I inked up with some pigment ink and then placed as a visual and spatial break, followed by a simple sentiment. Voila and I call it done!



Please also check out the rest of the girl's cards and leave them a sweet comment or two. Remember you don't have to use all the colors - any or all as an inspiration.

Lastly, a few helpful things to remember:

• Challenge ends Jul 14th, 2014, 11:59p BST; Check back for the winners after
• Prize is £10 Gift Certificate to the random Winner & a Guest Design spot on our following challenge
• Three people will win a spotlight
• We would like you to use a Uniko Studio product; If you don't have any, check out the freebies here

I hope to see you play along, so that I can pop in on your lovely blogs! See you soon.

Background Builders: Squared -	A Gift For You	Papertrey Ink - Paper Basics - Stamper's Select White Cardstock (40 Sheets)	Perfect Match Enchanted Evening Cardstock (50 sheets)
*Tsukineko MEMENTO Full Size Ink Pad TUXEDO BLACK	Mama Elephant Creative Color EGGPLANT Ink Pad ME-EGG	*Prismacolor PREMIER COLORED PENCILS 72	*Studio Calico TRIANGLES & DIAMONDS Wood Veneer Shapes Darling Dear 331219

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Danielle's Special Delivery Blog Hop - Special Delivery

Hello there - today is a special blog hop for a special someone. Danielle from Neat & Tangled is one the sweetest persons I have ever met. And we are getting together to celebrate her sweet self and the delivery of Baby Everlyn. I can't wait to see pictures! And all the best wishes to you, Danielle, and the rest of the family.

You should be hopping over from talented, amazing Christine Drogt, who organized all of this!

Initially I wanted to make a card with lots of Neat & Tangled products, but I started to make a baby onesie and ended up making a card to match. Here it is

This onesie is super easy to make. Just find a shape as a template, adhere some heat bond to the fabric, trace around it and then you have yourself a fun appliqué. Then just iron the appliqué onto the onesie. If anyone is interested, i can make a tutorial... it's so easy peasy and we used this technique at the recent baby shower I organized.



I ended up making a matching card out of complimentary fabric. This fabric is just glued down onto some card stock, and then onto some wood veneer pattern paper. The rest is just some fun white doodling to go along with the white sentiment. So that's all from my side. Your next stop is Miriam Prantner - another amazing, talented designer. She even designed a few sets for Neat & Tangled ;)



Here the entire blog list in its entirety for easy of navigation...

• Neat and Tangled 
• Amy Kolling
• Jessica Pascarella
• Evgenia Petzer
• Ashley Marcu
• Yana Smakula
• Linda Trace
• June Houck
• Betty J.
• Amy Tsuruta
• Anna Kossakovskaya
• Barb Murphy
• Tracy Ercole
• Mary Dawn Quirindongo
• Heather Ruwe
• Mayuri
• Christine Drogt
• Ren-Yi Lo (you are here)
• Miriam Prantner

Hope you enjoyed hopping along on this fun occasion!

[Uniko Studio] June 2014 Release - Release Day

Hello Uniko Studio fans - are you ready for the big day? Uniko Studio is releasing four fabulous stamp sets today. Here are the four in it's entirety.

Hopefully you're hopping over from Nicki's fabulous creations... if not, start at the beginning at Bev's blog, because you don't want to miss out on prizes and inspirations.

First up, Classic Alphabet set, where the frames can be use by itself to make a pattern, or to use with the alphabet to make monogrammed, personalized cards. Or just spell out fun things (see project for today).

Then English Country Garden - Butterflies is another lovely must-have. The largest butterfly measures 2.75" x 2" whereas the small ones measure 1.5" x 1".

Flower Power #5 is the newest family member to the Flower Power series, and I love the series of Thank You sentiments. Wouldn't it pair up nicely with the frame from the Classic Alphabet set?

The last and one of the most stunning sets Bev has ever designed is a beautiful hummingbird image. The bird measures 3.5" x 2.75" and there are two wonderful sentiments to go along with this set. The flowers can easily be used to also create a beautiful background pattern.

So for today's Design Team blog hop, I have created a simple card using the Classic Alphabet set. And I decided to jump onto the nautical trend...



So here is very straight forward card with some washi, die cutting some circles and stamping the frame out. It's easy enough to fill in the border of the frame to give the frame and alphabets a different look. And when in doubt, just add Wink of Stella.



You are off to *amazing* *talented* *i wanna be her when i grow up* Taheerah ;)

Here the entire blog list in its entirety for easy of navigation...

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

Remember that Bev is going to draw prizes. You have until 11:59p BST Jun 15 to comment. 

(I'll add a supply list by the end of the week - things have just been super crazy here - thanks for understanding)

[Uniko Studio] June 2014 Release - Introducing Paradise - Hummingbird

Hello Uniko Studio fans - thank for all your blog love and sweet comments. I hope you're enjoying the samples so far by the team. So what do you think about this month's release so far? Are you excited? What is your favorite set so far?

Before you make any decisions on your favorite, we're going to show you the last of four sets being released this month.

I decided to work with an unassuming part for yesterday's sneak peek set. So today I thought I'd work with an obvious part of the sneak peek. You know, just to change it up a bit ;)

Is there a kind of card that you dread making? I have one particular kind: for me they are sympathy cards. And I know those are the ones that people need the most, but I don't really know how to express my empathy. Probably because I dread writing something inside of them. What do you say? How do you take the pain or loss away from someone? Most of the words sound so generic, mass-produced, repeated... But alas, when friends of yours lose someone, the right thing is to send them a card and let them know your thoughts are with them. And I have been procrastinating on the ones I should be sending  :*(

So here is my very simple (and yet not very simple) sympathy card.

I tried photographing this card on white background and it was not very flattering. And the best light in the middle of the night is unfortunately the undergoing kitchen space. But hopefully you get the gist with this card.

It's simple and effective: Versafine Onyx Black on White card stock. It's back to the very beginning where I bought my first black ink pad, bought myself some white card stock, and a clear stamp set...And yet, it can be quite striking, and impacting. What do you think?

I started by making my own frame. I cut a panel to 5.25" x 4". Then measured from each edge 3/8" and made a light pencil park. Then I took a fine liner black pen and drew my frame. After that I took my Prismacolor Double-ended Art Marker and made a thicker border. The next part is to mask off the borders to stamp the bird inside the frame. I decided to use some handy dandy washi tape that was lying around and made sure to tape the edge right up and onto the border, like so...



One humming bird stamped, one sharp craft knife, and one hour later, and here is the finished product up close.



To come to think of it, it looks like the sneak peek all over again, doesn't it? But I assure you this one is not a digital file ;) Also another great tip is to use a black marker, fine liner or the brush tip of your Copics, and run it around along the cut edge. It's very hard to cut cleanly, and the cross section of the card stock is white when you cut into it. So running that marker along the cut area jet finishes off the bird more cleanly. 

Just a word of warning that this card is not a quick one, and the tiny bits and pieces are slow to cut out. But I'd like to think it's worth your while.

Hope you liked this rather serious card. I just wanted to show you another aspect how to use your stamps even for those sombre occasion. Make sure to stop by the other girls' blog to see some more upbeat version of this stamp set. 

And make sure to stop by tomorrow, because it's finally Release Day here at Uniko Studio. I'll have something new whipped up by then...Ta for now.

Papertrey Ink - Paper Basics - Stamper's Select White Cardstock (40 Sheets)

*VersaFine ONYX BLACK Ink Pad Pigment

Flower Power #1 Clear Stamps -

Prismacolor Marker Pm98 Black

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[Uniko Studio] June 2014 Release - Introducing Flower Power #5

Hi everyone - remember me telling you one of the famous series were back? Have you guessed it yet?

It's the release of another fabulous set to the Flower Power series. Lots of fun elements and here is the sneak peek again.

I've been in a crafting mojo rut - probably with all the running around for wedding prep and kitchen renovations. But that I'll get to in another post, or so I hope ;)

I always am trying to find interesting ways to use the stamps in our sets. I used two litte parts in this stamp set - probably the smallest untypical parts of the set. They are suppose to be used to stamp the stamen or pistil of the flower's center. I like how those little outlined circles or solid circles could be interesting texture. And bubbles or circles make me think of water and ocean. Anyone else have this association?

So I went wild and searched all blue and blue-like ink pads in my stash and went wild. Turns out I had a few when put together... ;) After playing around for bit, here is my work in progress.

Here is an up close picture. See the outlined circles and the solid circles? Love the texture that it creates.



And here is my outcome of my little tag. Good thing I started with a small canvas, cause if I tried to stamp a whole card panel I might still be stamping furiously and not be done by the time this blog post goes live ;)



I added some drops of gold confetti across and used Candi Gold Wedding pieces as air bubbles. The Thank You sentiment is also from the set, and I am loving the font.



Another quick detail I want to show you is the Hero Hues Unicorn white across the tag to add a bit of texture. Adds another layer of dimension that changes the tag.



Hope you liked this little tag. We will be back tomorrow for another preview of another set being released. See you then?

Jenni Bowlin - Dye Ink Pads - Soap Powder	*Jenni Bowlin For Ranger SPICE TIN DYE INK PAD	*Jenni Bowlin For Ranger SPECKLED EGG DYE INK PAD	Mama Elephant Creative Color OCEAN Ink Pad ME-OCE
Mama Elephant Creative Color WINTER Ink Pad ME-WIN	*Tim Holtz DISTRESS INK PAD PEACOCK FEATHERS Ranger SPRING	Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad TUMBLED GLASS Blue Ranger TIM27188	*Hero Arts Memories Rubber Stamp DYE Ink Pad UNICORN 2012 White AF217
*Tsukineko GOLDEN GLITZ Delicata Pigment Ink Pad	*Maya Road #2 SHIPPING TAGS MANILA Tag ML2514 Blank 2013	Jolees Boutique Sticker Collage Fish Bowls from EK Success	Background Builders: Vines -
Craftwork Cards CW77 Candi Dot Embellishments .35oz-Gold Wedding

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[Uniko Studio] June 2014 Release - Introducing English Country Garden - Butterflies

Hi everyone - if you're stumbling onto this blog post, we are in the midst of our Uniko Studio release and we're introducing the second of four sets being released this month.

I really am loving this set. Just by its name it sounds divine: English Country Garden - Butterflies. Bev has released a pretty lovely Butterfly set and die in the past, but this one has some fantastic details. It has three butterfly images, and a lovely phrase. All the girls on the design team are already begging for the matching dies.

I decided to pull out the biggest butterfly image and stamp the image on Versamark on vellum. And embossed it in white. I kind of had a stained glass in mind, and here is the finished product.

Then I pulled some inks out and went to town coloring this little butterfly. I also dropped some Heidi Swapp Gold color shine onto white rustic card stock. Here is an up close picture of the butterfly and I may like how it came out ;)



I decided to adhere the butterfly onto a strip of scrap pattern paper and Moonlight Lavender card stock. (I will eventually remember from which collection this came from, and will update the supplies list.) The panel is then adhered on a white card stock made with gold washi strips. 

Here is a work in progress with the washi gold strip background.



A quick tip: I lined my first washi strip across the longest diagonal line. Then I worked from the middle towards the outside one strip at a time. This ensures that my strips are straight and at the right angle.



Hope you liked this little card. We will be back tomorrow for another preview of another set being released. See you then?

*Love My Tapes GOLD Japanese Washi Tape	Papertrey Ink - Perfect Match Lavender Moon Cardstock (50 Sheets)	Papertrey Ink - Paper Basics - Rustic White Cardstock (50 Sheets)	Papertrey Ink - Paper Basics - Stamper's Select White Cardstock (40 Sheets)
A Gift For You	*VersaFine ONYX BLACK Ink Pad Pigment	Simon Says Stamp Premium Dye Ink Pad SLATE Gray	*Tim Holtz DISTRESS INK PAD PEACOCK FEATHERS Ranger SPRING
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad TUMBLED GLASS Blue Ranger TIM27188	*Hero Arts Shadow Ink Pad BUTTER BAR Mid-Tone 2012 AF207	*Jenni Bowlin For Ranger CHICKEN FEED DYE INK PAD JBP28543	*Jenni Bowlin For Ranger LEMON DROPS DYE INK PAD
*Jenni Bowlin For Ranger LAVENDER SACHET DYE INK PAD	*Versamark WATERMARK Rubber Stamp Emboss Chalk Resist INK PAD	*Stampendous STAMP N STUFF Fine Opaque White Embossing Powder DP100	Marvy Uchida - Decocolor Liquid Gold Paint Marker Extra Fine
Heidi Swapp GOLD LAME Color Shine 00791	Papertrey Ink - Paper Basics - Stamper's Select Vellum Cardstock (24 Sheets)

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