Time to Celebrate

Hi everyone,

Some of you will know that in February there was an exciting month of challenges over on the Uniko blog to celebrate their 10th birthday.  The whole event was a lot of fun, with a variety of challenge “quests” with individual prizes plus a grand prize draw for those who completed all 10 quests. I joined in enthusiastically as the quests were fun and informative, plus I really like Uniko products even though I only owned one set of Uniko stamps.   Anyhoo, Last week I was gobsmacked to discover I won the grand prize … £100 gift voucher for the Uniko store!! 😍😍❤️ So it really is time to celebrate 🎉🎉😀

Bev who owns Uniko has been really kind and helpful … I got my voucher on Thursday, promptly placed my order, and my parcel arrived on Friday … wow !! There were stamps everywhere … I genuinely didn’t know which way to turn first!!

 Uniko stamps are generally a CAS style which is rather different from my usual style of cardmaking, but I particularly like the fantastic sentiment sets, the spring botanical flowers, and some of the CAS Christmas styles. Here is what I chose.

I am now much better set up with sentiments than before, and I selected two fabulous sets of spring botanicals flowers with co-ordinating sentiments. I also chose some stamps that I can use to make some CAS cards .. I am hoping to make some batch charity cards during the spring . 

I wanted to have a play immediately, so on Friday afternoon I managed to make two CAS cards - “Make a Wish” and “Time to Celebrate”.

For this card I stamped a card-wide panel of candles, which I coloured in rainbow hues with my Promarkers. I edged the panel with purple Promarker and matted onto my base card, and stamped my sentiments and stars.

Stamps: Uniko Big & Bold - Wish, Birthday Sentiments, Balloon Bash;

Media: Promarkers.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Colour Crazy Craft Challenge #12 2022 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

C.R.A.F.T. #631 - Anything Goes

Crafts Galore Encore #97 - Anything Goes

Crafty Calendar (March) - Spots/Stripes

Fab ‘n’ Funky #547 - Hand Coloured Image

Krafty Chicks #604 - All Occasions

Simon Says (Monday) - Bright and Cheerful (2nd entry)

For my second card I first stamped my “celebrate” sentiment, using my existing  Birthday Sentiments set. I then used the balloon stencil with Distress Oxide inks, and stamped the balloon strings. I stamped my remaining sentiment words, then stamped and embossed stars.  I added a little dimension to the balloons by stencilling a highlight using Versamark ink and shimmer chalk. Finally I matted the finished panel onto a blue border and the base card.

Here is an angled pic to show up the shimmery balloon highlights and silver stars a bit more ...

Stamps: Uniko Birthday Sentiments, Balloon Bash;
Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Picked Raspberry, Kitsch Flamingo, Wilted Violet, Shaded Lilac, Blueprint Sketch, Salty Ocean); Versamark; Detail silver embossing powder;

Tools: Uniko stencil - Balloon Bash.  

Challenges I would like to enter:

A Gem of a Challenge #7 2022 - Anything Goes

Addicted to Stamps and More #425 - Die Cuts and/or Stencils (2nd entry)
Creative Crafters #50 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

DL. Art (March) - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Love To Craft #67 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Three Room Studio Saturday Challenge #78 - Use a Stencil

I really think both the balloon stencil and candle stamps are simple but so effective when used with a large sentiment, and can be coloured for male, female or children’s cards; so I foresee some charity makes ahead… I’m sure there will be plenty more where these came from, and I’ll keep you updated with my progress. It only remains for me to reiterate my huge thanks to Bev at Uniko for her brilliant 10th birthday celebrations and amazingly generous prize. 

That’s all for today - take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,