[Little Tangles] Challenge #17 - Into the Woods

Note: If you're looking for the Uniko Studio Challenge - please keep scrolling ;)

Hi everyone! We're back for a new challenge and this week we have a few changes. We are bringing Guest Designers to Little Tangles, so please welcome our first one Tenia. I'm so happy to have her long because she and I were teamies before. And she's just superb!

Aside from that you probably wanna know the theme. This week we're tipping our hats off to all things Wood & Nature. So whip out your wood grain embossing plates, stamps, kraft colored items, burlap, cork, hemp, wood buttons or any other natural materials. Not too hard, right?

Here is my creation for this week:


Stamps: (Across the Card) Neat & Tangled
Paper: (Paper Basics Card Stock - Kraft) Papertrey Ink; (DYI Shop) Crate Paper
Ink: (Jenni Bowlin - No. 11 Brown Sugar) Ranger
Embellishments: (Sequins - Raspberry Red Satin) Neat & Tangled; (Cumberland Gap Add-on Kit: (Blue Grid Washi) Freckled Fawn; Savannah Shore Add-on Kit: (Diecut Embellishments - Hope Chest) Josephine Kimberling; Wood Veneer - Tiny Hearts) Studio Calico; (Natural Burlap Stickers - Birds & Butterflies) Little Yellow Bicycle

I found some great wood grain pattern paper out of the DYI Shop collection, chose brown ink, and a burlap embellishment as my wood & natural elements. A little bit of bling and color can't hurt to tie it all together. Here is a close up of this adorable bird. 



Just a fun shopping tip: I found a bunch of burlap, mistable fabric, and cork die cuts in Michaels on sale. I'm actually starting to like Michael's a little more for paper crafting. Recently they have been stocking Heidi Swapp, MME, Becky Higgins Project Life, Little Yellow Bicycle and a few other great finds.

And if that's not enough wood elements, I'm still surviving on wood glue ;) My crafty things are still haven't made its way to be unpacked. We are experiencing greater delays than what we had planned. But I am making due with what orders I have made, and the one pair of scissors, the wood glue, and a foam strip I found in F's tape bin ;) They kinda work like foam adhesives but aren't as tall.

Anyways, hope this card inspires you to play along. Check out the rest of the Design Team if you haven't. Absolutely fab creations this week.

A few helpful things to remember:

• Challenge ends Jul 28, 2013, 11:59p EST; Check back for the winners
• Prize is ONE Neat & Tangled Stamp set of your choice to a random player
• Neat & Tangled stamps are not required on your entry, but we would love to see you use them. If you would like to use some Neat & Tangled products but haven't had a chance to buy any, we have a couple of freebies on the Little Tangles site. Enjoy!

[Uniko Studio] Challenge No. 1 - Say Hello

Hi everyone! We have a special new feature at Uniko Studio. We're going to bring you a monthly challenge. It occurs every 18th of the month and goes until every 14th of the following month. We'll see if anyone bites and how popular this will get, but we wanted to give the loyal Uniko Studio fans an outlet to showcase their awesome designs.

This week we're starting off with something appropriate: Say Hello. You should be hopping over here from Nicki's talented creation. Yep, we thought it was time to get to know you and for you to get to know us. So every DT will be posting a random fact about themselves on the blog. We hope you will also join us and post a random fact about yourself!

In the meantime, this is my inspiration for you...


Stamps: (Beautiful Blooms I) Uniko Studio
Paper: (Paper Basics Card Stock - Kraft) Papertrey Ink; (Coconut Grove Add-on Kit: pattern paper) Studio Calico
Ink: (Jenni Bowlin - No. 2 Cough Syrup; No. 5 Chicken Feed) Ranger
Embellishments: (Alphabet Stickers - White) Kelly Purkey; (Coconut Grove Add-on Kit: (Lime Green Twine Hemp Cord) Hemptique) Studio Calico

This is just another quick creation using whatever supplies I have handy, which is rather limiting. It is possible to put something together, and I'm starting to like this restriction of supplies. It keeps me true to some basic techniques, such as stamping and relying on my scissor skills, and supplies that have been coming in. No embossing (wet or dry), no glitter or stickles, no gloss pens, no color pencils, no markers, no mists or templates. Oh - who am I kidding, I do miss my stuff!



This is just a quick card. I stamped the Beautiful Blooms I onto some pattern paper. I used the colors from the pattern paper as inspiration and decided to stick with two colors - red & orange. The orange gives it a nice pop, doesn't it? The green banner and hemp cord was inspired by the light green hue in the pattern paper. A quick sentiment made out of stickers and it's done.

Do you guys know Haribo Gold Gummy Bears? This card kind of reminds me of the colors. This is relevant because of my random fact. When I grab a few out, I like to eat those that I grab in the order of Yellow, Orange, White, Green, Red. For some reasons I really like the way the white, green and red taste best.

Anyways, that's all I have for you. Off you go to Stacey... 

In case you missed the others:

• Uniko Studio Blog (Bev)
• Aimes
• Amber
• Gayatri
• Nicki
• Ren-Yi (you are here)
• Stacey

Lastly, a few helpful things to remember:

• Challenge ends Aug 14th, 2013, 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!

[Uniko Studio] June Design Team Blog Hop - Label Love: Thank You Revisited

Hello everyone! Did you land here from the amazing Nicki? I'm going to apologize in advance that I will not have a card to showcase today. The house renovations on the second floor is taking longer than expected and my Uniko Studio stamps are nicely packed in a box within a larger box, which is behind a bunch of other boxes. 

On a bigger note, one of our girls on the DT has a birthday today. So a huge happy birthday shoutout to my teamie Amber. I wish you nothing but happiness, health and loads of crafty mojo in the next year to come! Make sure to hop over to her and leave her some extra love!

But the rest of the stellar team has some great inspiration for you, so I hope you will continue blog hopping through the Uniko Studio line up that shows off Love Label: Thank You.

And if I remember correctly, Bev is going to draw a winner to win this stamp set from among the blog hop, so remember to comment along the way. In the meantime, I'm sending you off to our stop Stacey and don't forget to leave extra love for our guest designer.

Here the whole list for easy navigation ...

• Uniko Studio Blog (Bev)
• Aimes
• Amber
• Erika
• Gayatri
• Nicki
• Ren-Yi (you are here)
• Stacey
• Taheera

I hope you like what you're seeing. And we can't wait to see your creations on our Flickr group!

[Little Tangles] Challenge #16 - Birthday

Hi everyone! Where do these two weeks go? I turn around and another card is due. The progress is that we're done with the master bedroom floor, paint and such. We just have to reattach the baseboards. Then I can start putting things where they belong. That involves peeling off the first layer of stuff in the craft room. It's such a slow process, but at least we see the fruits of our labour.

This week we're so lucky to have our challenge fall on our nation's birthday. So I hope you're enjoying a great July 4th wherever you are! Since we have so many great international players, we are broadening the theme to a generic birthday. So here I am scraping together what supplies I have to join in our Littles Tangles challenge: Birthday. You'll notice a trend in my cards...

See what I mean?


Stamps: (On The Strip 2) Neat & Tangled
Paper: (Paper Basics Card Stock - Vintage Cream) Papertrey Ink;
Ink: (Jenni Bowlin - No. 11 Brown Sugar) Ranger
Embellishments: (Thickers) American Crafts; (wood chips) recycled

Plain, simple, to the point, and with whatever stuff I can find lying around ;) The notorious wood glue is back, plus a bunch of wood chips from our home renovations. You see, we bought these great wood blinds from Ikea - our go to place for home supplies and such ;)

Picture courtesy of Ikea: http://www.ikea.com

And since these blinds don't perfectly fit in our window width, we hacked the length using a Dremel to cut the iron bar along the top, and a Mitre saw to cut a little bit of the wood on both ends. Florian has a brilliant technique how to customize the length of these blinds. I just usually stand on the sidelines worried that he has all 10 digits attached and stare in glee as wood chips fall off...



They make for great tiles and other great accents. Or perhaps this is just my way to make up for the fact that I have no wood veneer pieces handy. So self-made tiles anyone? I only have like a bazillion of these. We have 10 or more windows on our second floor. Multiply that by two cuts along each side of the blinds... I wasn't kidding about the bazillion tiles. Anyone need a few? Leave me a message in the comments.

Anyways, hope this card inspires you to play along. Check out the rest of the Design Team if you haven't. Absolutely fab creations this week.

A few helpful things to remember:

• Challenge ends Jul 14, 2013, 11:59p EST; Check back for the winners
• Prize is ONE Neat & Tangled Stamp set of your choice to a random player
• Neat & Tangled stamps are not required on your entry, but we would love to see you use them. If you would like to use some Neat & Tangled products but haven't had a chance to buy any, we have a couple of freebies on the Little Tangles site. Enjoy!

[Uniko Studio] Design Team June Release Blog Hop

Hello Uniko friends! We are finally getting to around doing the release stamps a little justice. With so many of us on break, travelling for work, and us scattered across of the world receiving our stamps at odd timings, we're finally getting caught up on our little Design Team traditions: a blog hop. I'm so glad I'm getting an opportunity to showcase the stamps.

If you came from Nicki's blog then you're in the right place. If not, then start at Bev's blog to not make sure you don't miss out on all the inspiration. I'm guessing you know the drill! :)

I'm showcasing two stamp sets that were released earlier this month:

A splendid Background Builders set, that's versatile and absolutely in: Background Builders: Chevrons

And a fabulous sequel to my favorite sentiments for its size: All Occasion Sentiments #2

In case you're wondering, I'm still McGyvering around with Wood Glue, scotch tape and whatever little bits and bobs I can find. Long story short, we ran into unexpected hitches renovating the master bedroom, so the craft room is still acting as storage ;)

Since I was in need of a birthday card, I threw this one together...


Stamps: (All Occasion Sentiments #2, Background Builders: Chevrons) Uniko Studio
Paper: (Paper Basics Card Stock - Rustic Cream) Papertrey Ink; (Roundabout Card Kit - Crate Paper) Studio Calico
Ink: (Brilliance - Galaxy Gold) Tsukineko; (Jenni Bowlin - No. 11 Brown Sugar) Ranger
Embellishments: (Roundabout Card Kit: Doodlebug Designs Inc Jewels - Flower Box) Studio Calico; (Sequins - Mint Satin) Neat & Tangled

My cards are now plain and simple, since my crafting supplies are still stashed in boxes, which are behind other boxes which are behind furniture. *sob* So I am limited to glueing things down without dimension, stamping, and perhaps cutting things very carefully with an Xacto and a straight edge of something. If you're imaging me cutting crafting projects with big power tools, that's pretty much the right picture ;) Except, I couldn't find the equivalent of a heat gun in our renovation tools.

I'm so glad that some of crafty purchases or subscriptions have come in, so I am able to put a little bit of pizzazz onto my work ;)



Hope this little card tickled! Now off you go to the ever so lovely Stacey.

Don't forget to comment along the way, because Bev is drawing one lucky reader to win the entire release plus some! There are some other smaller prizes hidden along the way, so make sure to comment on everyone's blog to have a fair chance at it!

And if you need the entire blog hop list, check below. Otherwise, I hope you enjoyed the last few days of posts...

Here the whole list for easy navigation ...

• Uniko Studio Blog (Bev)
• Aimes
• Amber
• Erika
• Gayatri
  
• Nicki
• Ren-Yi (you are here)
• Stacey
• Taheera
• GDT Jen Nelson

Give a special shout-out to our lovely Guest Designer Jen, won't you? And in case you make something fab with your new haul, don't forget to add it to our Flickr Group.

I hear Florian calling my name...I think laying down hard wood floor is next. ;)

[Little Tangles] Challenge #15 - Washi It Up

Hi everyone! I can't believe it's already two weeks since the last challenge. On the home-front my crafty supplies are still not unpacked. Even though the craft room is finished, it's now acting as the storage room for everything else, because we're tackling the master bedroom next. So all the half-opened boxes and other items have moved to the craft room. Ahhhh...life is so different when you're a house owner and renovating ;)

I managed to scrape a few supplies together to create something for our next Littles Tangles challenge: Washi It Up. Yep, the washi tape trend is still going strong and I can see that this will stay for a bit. It's all about cute, fun tape...

Here's my CAS card for ya...


Stamps: (Just Thinking of You, Sketchy Cupcake) Neat & Tangled
Paper: (Paper Basics Card Stock - Rustic Cream, Fine Linen) Papertrey Ink;
Ink: (Jenni Bowlin - No. 11 Brown Sugar) Ranger
Embellishments: (Washi Tape Blüten) Rayher Hobby; (Candi - Metallique Copper) Craftwork Cards; (Sequins - Lemon Satin) Neat & Tangled

So I was looking desperately for adhesive. I had Scotch tape at hand and the following adhesive. Ahem - don't tell Florian I used his wood glue. Then again it was just a few dabs, so he won't know I took some ;)



I decided to go with the rule of three on this one: three washi strips of beautiful yellow flowers on green background; three yellow bits of sequins to match the flowers, and three Candi embellishments in Metallique Copper to balance the brown stamping.



It is quite an interesting experiment to see how to create something with no supplies at hand. I can't wait to unpack my crafty things. The only thing standing in my way is painting the ceiling of the master, painting the side walls, ripping out the carpet, laying down the hardwood floor, painting the trims and attached the trim boards, and moving all the stuff into it. Ha! Wish me luck.

Hope my quick card inspires you to play along. Don't forget that one lucky winner will get a free Neat & Tangles Stamp set of their choice. 

A few helpful things to remember:

• Challenge ends Jun 30, 2013, 11:59p EST; Check back for the winners
• Prize is ONE Neat & Tangled Stamp set of your choice to a random player
• Neat & Tangled stamps are not required on your entry, but we would love to see you use them. If you would like to use some Neat & Tangled products but haven't had a chance to buy any, we have a couple of freebies on the Little Tangles site. Enjoy!

[Little Tangles] Challenge 14: Just Say Hello

Hi everyone! It is so exciting to be back for Term 2 at Little Tangles. I can't wait to see what the new girls will whip up for you, but they are a talented bunch.

Since this is a new challenge for the DT at Littles Tangles challenge, we thought we'd kick it off with a few introductions and Just Say Hello.

The saga of our house renovations continue and let me just say that none of my crafting things made it out of the box yet. But the craft room's floor has been laid, the walls are painted and the base boards are back into the place. All that of course before I flew off on my business trip.

Here a quick progress picture of what it looked liked last Saturday and it's not the latest. But it gives you a glimpse into the room's wall color and the floor that we had picked up.



Needless to say my card today has no single stamp on it. Instead it whipped up with a bunch of supplies I ordered up and managed to set aside. Can you guess what they are?

Sequins of course!


Stamps: N/A
Paper: (Paper Basics Card Stock - Vintage Cream) Papertrey Ink;
Ink: N/A
Embellishments: (Sequins - Crystal Clear, Cotton Candy Satin, Lovely Lilac Satin, Ocean Breeze Satin, Mint Satin) Neat & Tangled; (Tim Holtz AlterationsTexture Fades - Retro Circles) Ranger; (Decorative Washi Tape - Woodgrain) Hambly Studio

Yep - I cut out a piece of card stock and went nuts laying down the little sequins with lots of patience and love. I had this "brilliant" idea that if I can't stamp "hello" I can at least spell it out. Funny thing is, after I layed out the "H" I had to switched gears, because the number of letters I realized for "Hello" would not fit across the card. To make matters worst, I thought I could italize the whole lettering because I thought that would look better, which resulted in cutting half sequins.



I think the idea was okay, but the implement could use a few improvements. For one, use the metallic sequins so that it would stand out more. Next, don't try to make them line up diagonally. And lastly, lay out the card stock and find a size that fits well to the sequins. And more importantly, don't try starting a card late at night...

Anyways, I hope you had a chance to check out all girl's creations and give them a huge welcome. They are a talented bunch of group that you will find as inspiring as I do.

Don't forget that one lucky winner will get a free Neat & Tangles Stamp set of their choice. 

A few helpful things to remember:

• Challenge ends May 16, 2013, 11:59p EST; Check back for the winners
• Prize is ONE Neat & Tangled Stamp set of your choice to a random player
• Neat & Tangled stamps are not required on your entry, but we would love to see you use them. If you would like to use some Neat & Tangled products but haven't had a chance to buy any, we have a couple of freebies on the Little Tangles site. Enjoy!