Uniko June release: Day 1 introduction

Good morning friends and welcome back to my blog. It's day one of introductions for Uniko's June release.  Our first introduction is 'Background Blocks: Thank You Scramble'.  Bev has previously released a Birthday scramble and also one for Christmas and this one is along the same lines; perfect for a quick and easy card just by colouring the letters or ink blending/smooshing the background.  

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by cutting a larger panel than I needed so that I could save a little piece for the inside.  I stamped the image into the centre and then rotated it and randomly stamped it all around to fill the panel.  I coloured the image in the centre using my Promarkers in rainbow colours. I trimmed down the panel to 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" and adhered it to my card base with double sided tape.  I decided to do a faux eclipse look so die cut 4 frames using nesting rectangles from black card and layered them together with liquid glue.  I adhered the frame to the panel with liquid glue.  A fairly simple design but I think the black frame and rainbow coloured letters really pack a punch.  For the inside I cut a white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and added the leftover strip of the background I created to the bottom with liquid glue; I also added a thin strip of black card along the edge.  I again coloured the letters on the strip with my Promarkers.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre with black ink and added the panel to my card base with double sided tape.  

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:

* to be updated * 

Please check out what Bev and the rest of the team have created by clicking the links below:

Bev

Izzy

Julie 

Natalie

Vinita

Please pop back tomorrow at the same time to see the day 2 of the introductions.

Love and hugs,

card supplies:

Uniko - Background Blocks: Thank You scramble stamp (releasing Sat 27/06/26)

Uniko - doodle flowers clear stamp (for inside sentiment)

Promarkers

Hero Arts - nesting rectangle dies (to create my frames)

Limetree Craft - 300gsm smooth white card (for card base)

Limetree Craft - 220gsm black card

Heffy Doodle - alcohol marker friendly card (store now closed)

Memento - tuxedo black ink

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

Uniko June release sneak peeks!

Hello friends and happy Monday.  I hope you had a good weekend and are taking care in this scorching heatwave we're experiencing at the moment.  As you may have seen on social media I am joining Uniko as a brand ambassador and I am still pinching myself that Bev asked me at all lol!  Bev has a new release on Saturday so this week is all about the sneak peeks.  Bev is introducing a new stamp set and a trio of fantastic and versatile stencils; here's a peek at what's coming soon.

First up is new 'scramble' background block stamp:

Bev has previously released a few other 'scramble' style stamps and they have proved popular as they create a quick and simple cards.

The next is another of Bev's really clever Ink & Flip stencils that has been in use at a couple of the recent Uniko retreats.

Next up is a gorgeous layering, floral stencil.

And finally another stencil duo that can be used individually or together to create fabulous all over backgrounds.

That's all for the peeks but I'll be back with Bev and the other brand ambassadors tomorrow with the first of our introductions. All these items will be available from 9am BST Saturday 27th June, see you tomorrow!

Love and hugs, 

Patterned Paper IG Hop - June 26

Hello friends, welcome back to my little blog. I'm here today to share my card for this month's Patterned Paper Party Instagram Hop. Do you love patterned paper? Do you have a huge stash that needs using? Well so do we and it's time to get it used! We will be hopping on the 20th of each month to share our ideas. We will definitely be creating cards, but maybe sometimes tags, ATCs, gift bags/boxes, mini albums and scrapbook pages too. We want our patterned paper to be used.

The theme is always 'anything goes' but each month we will have an optional twist that can be used if you like; this month the twist is 'chevrons' which are so fun, especially for masculine cards. I made a Father's Day card for my FIL and it's 5" x 7" in size.  Surprisingly I didn't use chevron patterned paper but instead die cut some chevrons from patterned paper for my background.  I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the image:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by stamping the image onto alcohol marker card, coloured it with Promarkers and fussy cut it out.  I did add some white highlights with a gelly roll pen too.  I found this fun paper pad from DCWV and although it's hard to tell in the photo but the orange/bronze stripe has some foiling detail.  All the papers are from the pad including the brown mat layers and the chevrons were cut from it too.  I cut the main panel 4 1/4" x 6 1/4" and matted it onto the brown layer with double sided tape.  I cut a white panel 3 1/2" x 2 7/8" and again matted it onto a brown layer; I also added some thin cream strips of paper to the top and bottom of the white panel with liquid glue.  I added the image onto the white panel with foam squares.  I stamped the sentiment onto the cream paper with brown ink and die cut the DAD letters from the brown paper and stacked them x3 with liquid glue; the letters were then adhered to a cream piece with liquid glue.  I cut 4 x chevrons for my background and adhered them with liquid glue.  The image panel was added to the centre of the panel with double sided tape and the sentiments were added to the top right and bottom left with double sided tape.  For the inside I cut a white panel 4 3/8" x 6 3/8" and stamped the sentiment in the centre with brown ink.  I cut some of the papers and layered them together with double sided tape and also cut another chevron and placed that across the centre with liquid glue.  the panel was then adhered to the card base with double sided tape (oops I forgot my brown layer but it still looks ok I think). 

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:

* to be updated *

We hope you will be inspired by our Patterned Paper Party IG Hop and will pop over and check out all the gorgeous creations along the way. If you would like to join us please visit my Instagram page or use the hashtag #patternedpaperpartyhopjune2026 and we will find you.

Thanks for stopping by and take care.

Lots of love

card supplies:

LOTV - vintage boys - mr fixit A5 polymer stamps (available in digi only now)

MFT - stepped up chevon die

MFT - little letters die set

Woodware - one for the boys stamp (for inside sentiment although I did some stamp surgery to remove the happy birthday)

DCWV - the natural stack 8" x 8" pad

Promarkers

Heffy Doodle - alcohol marker friendly card (store now closed)

Limetree Craft - 280gsm silky smooth white card (not available but other options are here and here)

Sakura - white no. 10 gelly roll pen

*Gina K Designs - dark chocolate ink pad

*I now have an Affiliate Link for the Gina K Designs store. If you are considering making a purchase I would appreciate you using my link as it will earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you x

Just Us Girls challenge #828 - moodboard

Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog. I am here to share my card for this week's Just Us Girls challenge and it's our 'mood board week' and I am your hostess. It's such a pretty floral mood board and I'm sure you'll all have a lot of fun creating from it and I cannot wait to see all your gorgeous creations.

There are so many flowers and in so many colours in the mood board.  Obviously the flowers are the focal point but the colours and fun squares in the layout could also call to you.  I decided to go with multi coloured flowers on a dark background, which I don't do often enough, as I love the look.  I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by cutting my navy panel to 3 1/2" x 4 3/4" and scored some lines horizontally using my score board (they are hard to see in the photos but are more obvious in real life).  I die cut the flowers from coloured card from my scraps bin and the centres from white and then ink blended the centres using a slightly darker ink.  I added the centres to the flowers with a tiny foam square.  I die the 'hello' word from gold mirror card and the shadow from vellum and adhered them together with liquid glue.  I heat embossed the sub sentiment onto the navy card using white embossing powder and used a sentiment strip die to cut it out.  I added some scrap white card behind the navy panel and adhered this to the card base using double sided tape.  I added the flowers to the panel again using a tiny foam square and both the sentiments were added with foam squares (cut really small).  I finished off with some gold pearls and also decided to add some white dots using my gelly roll pen to the flower centres and randomly in the background.  For the inside I cut a white panel 3 1/2" x 4 3/4" and added a piece of the navy card (although it looks black in the photo) to the bottom.  I die cut one more flower and added thatto the bottom left with liquid glue.  I stamped the sentiment using navy ink and then adhered the panel to the card base with double sided tape.  

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:

Allsorts challenge - anything goes from the garden

Atlantic Hearts Sketch challenge - sketch #686

Beautiful Blossoms challenge - anything floral goes optional mood board

Crafter's Cafe challenge - ATG optional blooms

Creative Moments challenge - pastels or brights 

Fab 'n' Funky challenge - summer flowers

Triple B challenge - birds, butterflies, blooms optional mood board

Unicorn challenge - flowers

Such a great mood board and I cannot wait to see what you create. Please pop over to the challenge blog and leave some love for the rest of the design team. Our guest designer is Kellianne, so please leave her some love too.

I appreciate you stopping by.

Love and hugs,

card supplies:

Spellbinders - be bold blooms die set

Spellbinders - hello smile die set (I only used the hello)

*Gina K Designs - a little hello stamp (for outside sub-sentiment)

Gina K Designs - sentiment strips die set

Gina K Designs - layered carnation stamp (for inside sentiment)

Gina K Designs - in the navy ink pad

Gina K Designs - gold, black and silver pearl mix

Limetree Craft - white 300gsm card (for card base)

Limetree Craft - 280gsm silky smooth white card (not available but other options are here and here)

WOW! - opaque bright white super fine embossing powder

Sakura - white no. 10 gelly roll pen

Stampin' Up! - card stock vellum (retired)

all coloured card from my scraps bin

*I now have an Affiliate Link for the Gina K Designs store. If you are considering making a purchase I would appreciate you using my link as it will earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

Thank you x

Krafty Chicks challenge #825 - CAS

Good morning lovely friends and welcome to my little corner of blogland. It's time for a new challenge over at Krafty Chicks challenge and this week we are on Week 3; and as always the theme is 'CAS (clean and simple)' and Diane is our hostess. Now we know that CAS is subjective but generally it's lots of open space (doesn't have to be white), no embellishments (or very few) and an uncluttered design. It can be a difficult design to pull off but we hope you will take on the challenge and come over and join in the fun with us.

I recently got this fun stamp set from Uniko and thought I would show it some love before I put it away.  I'm trying to do this more often as usually I get new products, organise them and put them away and then completely forget about them - please tell me I'm not the only one that does this!  I think it turned out super cute and I hope you like it too. 

Here is my card:

A closer look at the image:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by cutting a white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and ink blending all over with a light blue/teal ink pad.  I added some white spatter and also some spatter using the ink pad.  I stamped the images onto alcohol marker friendly card, coloured them with Promarkers and fussy cut them out.  I stamped the sentiments directly onto the background with black ink and added the panel onto the card base with double sided tape.  I adhered the clouds with liquid glue and the hot air balloon with foam squares (so a tiny bit of dimension but not too bad for me lol!).  For the inside I cut another white panel and ink blended along the bottom, again adding spatters.  I stamped, coloured and fussy cut one more cloud and added that to the bottom right corner with liquid glue.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre with black ink and adhered the panel to the card base with double sided tape.

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:

* to be updated *

I hope you will be able to join us for our 'CAS' challenge and I cannot wait to see your creations in our linky. Please leave some love for my fellow chicks - Leanne, Diane and Lori. Thank you so much for stopping by; I appreciate your lovely comments.

Love and hugs,

card supplies

Uniko - up & away stamp

Uniko - floral vines stamp (for happy birthday)

Uniko - pure florals: cosmos stamp (for inside sentiment)

Promarkers

Limetree Craft - 280gsm silky smooth white card (not available but other options are here and here)

Limetree Craft - 300gsm smooth white card (for card base)

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

Memento - tuxedo black ink pad

Heffy Doodle - alcohol marker friendly card (store closed)

Winsor & Newton - white gouache (for spatters)

*Gina K Designs - ocean mist ink pad

*I now have an Affiliate Link for the Gina K Designs store. If you are considering making a purchase I would appreciate you using my link as it will earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

Thank you x

ATC Scrap Makes IG Hop June 26

Hello friends, I hope you're doing great and you've had a great start to your week. I'm sharing my creations for this month's ATC Scrap Makes IG Hop. We challenge you to use leftover die cuts, sentiments and card stock to create Artist Trading Cards (ATC's). You can send them in happy mail, save them on a ring to highlight your favorite creations, swap them with friends or add sweet notes to a lunchbox. Join us if you like; the only rules are to use scraps and create cards that are 2.5” x 3.5” in size. We share our little snippets of happiness on the third Tuesday of the month.

This month I am continuing my alphabet series of ATC's with J, K & L. I think it will be fun each month finding images/dies for each letter. I'm trying to stick to animals and food but we'll see how it goes. I'm excited to see them all at the end and I hope you are going to stick around to see them all too. I used mostly older, retired products but I still love them so why not use them. I hope you like them; do you have a favourite from this month's trio?

Here are my three ATC's:

A closer look at 'J':

A closer look at 'K':

And a closer look at 'L':

The backs are simply decorated with the ATC info stamp and some blending:

Once again I used my leftover ink blending scrap paper for two of my backgrounds as they turn out really interesting and not something I would create myself. I did add some stamping on 'K', a little stencilling on 'J' and ink blended around the edges. For the 'L' ATC I used part of a die cut panel that I cut but never used.  I stamped, coloured with Promarkers and die cut all my images and also die cut extra white layers for the images and adhered them together with liquid glue.  The images were added to the backgrounds with liquid glue.  I die cut the letters from coloured card, again stacking them x 3 and added them to the ATC's with liquid glue.  I once again used part of the frames that I had used on previous month's ATC's, cut them from the same coloured card and added parts of it to the edges of the ATC. I added white spatter to all three ATC's.  For the backs I simply ink blended the matching colours around the edges and stamped one the ATC info stamps (that I won a few months ago) in black ink.  

I would like to enter my ATC's in the following challenges:

* to be updated *

I hope you will pop over to Instagram and check out the hop; please use the hashtag #ATCscrapmakes2026 or #ATCscrapmakesjune26 to see all the gorgeous creations and also if you want to participate we will be able to find you.

I really appreciate you stopping by today.

Love and hugs,

card supplies:

MFT - kangaroo crew stamp & die

Lawn Fawn - you're the zest stamp & die

Promarkers

MFT - little letters die set

Hunkydory - Moonstone dies - scalloped edged picture frames

Limetree Craft - 280gsm silky smooth white card (not available but other options are here and here)

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

Memento - tuxedo black ink pad

Heffy Doodle - alcohol marker friendly card (store now closed)

ATC silicone stamp won in a challenge

Sakura - white no. 10 gelly roll pen

Winsor & Newton - white gouache (for spatters)

*Gina K Designs - just keep swimming stamp & die

Gina K Designs - fizzy stencil (used on 'J' ATC)

Gina K Designs - ocean mist ink pad

*I now have an Affiliate Link for the Gina K Designs store. If you are considering making a purchase I would appreciate you using my link as it will earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

Thank you x

CASE IT IG Hop - June 26

Hello again friends. I hope you've had a great start to your weekend. I'm here to share this month's card for the CASE IT Instagram Hop where we find a project on Instagram that inspires us and we will share that project as well as the project we’ve created. There are so many beautiful creations on Instagram the only difficult part is narrowing down which one to CASE (which means Copy And Share Everything).

This month I was inspired by Nancy (@nauntie over on IG); I love every card she makes as she does CAS so amazingly.  As soon as I saw her card I was in love, her Christmas card is just gorgeous and I loved the embossed background and large die cut sentiment.  I decided to make my card an anniversary card but you can definitely see that my card was inspired by hers! Here is her card for my inspiration:

Isn't her card just perfect? Using Ardyth's LIMES process (you can watch her video here) we list what we see - Nancy has used white, lime green and red as her main colours, an embossing folder in the background, alphabet letter dies, a smaller sub-sentiment and a strip of vellum.  So I followed the layout and used a dark green, white and gold colour combo and used a large die cut word instead of her letters for my main sentiment.  I also added a few pieces of leafery which Nancy didn't have.  I didn't really omit anything this time and my spin is that my card is anniversary instead of Christmas and also it's 5 1/4" x 7 1/4" in size. I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by embossing a white panel cut to 4 3/4" x 6 3/4" (I also embossed a dark green panel to see which one I preferred; I felt the dark green one was too dark for the front so kept it for the inside instead). I die cut the 'happy' word, once from dark green and twice from white so that I stack them for extra dimension. I die cut the anniversary word from gold mirror card and also one of the leaves.  The other leaf was cut with vellum and I also cut a 1" strip to go around the front of my card. I also cut the shadow for the 'happy' word from vellum.  I wrapped the vellum strip around the embossed panel and added some double sided tape on the back to secure it, I then added a dark green mat layer behind the embossed panel.  I added the vellum shadow layer behind the stacked 'happy' and added that over the vellum strip with foam squares. I tucked the two leaves behind the vellum strip and adhered them with a combination of foam squares and liquid glue.  The 'anniversary' word was adhered below the strip with liquid glue.  I adhered the panel onto the card case with double sided tape.  I didn't add any embellishments as I wanted to try and keep Nancy's CAS look as much as possible.  For the inside I cut a white panel 4 3/4" x 6 3/4" and added a piece of dark green embossed panel to the bottom with double sided tape.  I also added a thin strip of the gold mirror card above it with liquid glue.  I die cut two more leaves, one from vellum and one from gold mirror card, and added them in the bottom left corner with liquid glue.  I decided to stamp the sentiment with a dark green ink, as opposed to my usual black, as there was no other black on my card. I adhered the panel onto the card base with double sided tape.  

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:

Allsorts challenge - anything goes from the garden 

Alphabet challenge - D is for double (I have two leaves)

Can You Handle The Pressure challenge - must use an EF optional theme boys to men

Daisy Chain challenge - not square

Heart's Quest Celebrations of Love challenge - BEWAS (anniversary)

Word Power challenge - sentiment as the focus

We hope you will be inspired by our CASE IT Instagram Hop and will pop over and check out all the gorgeous cards along the way. If you would like to join us please visit my Instagram page or use the hashtag #caseithop and we will find you.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Lots of love

card supplies:

Spellbinders - branching out embossing folder (EOM-Jan24) ? retired

Spellbinders - sealed bouquet die set (for leafery)

Julie Hickey - happy profile die set

Crafts-Too - happy anniversary die

Cardmaking Magic - verses for occasions stamp (for inside sentiment)

Limetree Craft - 280gsm silky smooth white card (not available but other options are here and here)

*Gina K Designs - Christmas pine ink pad

*I now have an Affiliate Link for the Gina K Designs store. If you are considering making a purchase I would appreciate you using my link as it will earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

Thank you x