Hello crafty friends! I'm here today with a card using the brand spankin' new stamp set from Honey Bee Stamps, Hand Lettered Alpha! I'm really loving this set. It is such a great font, and it has both lowercase and uppercase letters! There is even a coordinating Hand Lettered Numeric set.

This was a pretty simple card to make. I began by trimming a piece of white watercolor card stock slightly smaller than an A2 size card. Using my fabulous MISTI tool, I was able to line up the letters evenly to create the custom sentiment. I stamped it with VersaMark ink and white heat embossed it. Then, using Mustard Seed, Cracked Pistachio, Salty Ocean, and a touch of Seedless Preserves Distress Inks, I created the colorful blended background with a foam blending tool. A few flicks of water over the top, and then blotted with a paper towel created the water spot look. The main panel is adhered to the Soft Stone card base.

I hope you enjoyed my project today....I sure had fun playing! Have a great day and hope it involves some crafty time!

Nicki
my instagram

Honey Bee Stamps - Happy Day

Good morning! I'm always in need of masculine cards so I thought I'd create one for today's Honey Bee stamps post.

It's a pretty simple and straightforward card! I started near the top of the card, slightly off center with the green ink, and stamped the leaves (from the Cherish stamp set) repeatedly to start forming a circular pattern. I continued this process, switching out ink colors every so often. The banner was white heat embossed using "HAPPY" from the Wonderland set, and "day" using the Brush Grunge Alpha set! The banner was mounted to the base with foam tape for some dimension.
Thanks for popping in today!

Nicki
my instagram

Uniko September Reveal, Release & Giveaway!

Woop Woop! The day is finally here...the 3 BRAND NEW stamp sets being released today are NOW AVAILABLE TO PURCHASE on the Uniko website! YAY!

If you've been commenting on the posts the past few days (since the Sneak Peeks), you might want to check HERE to see if you are a mystery prize winner! 

Here it is! The full reveal of the September Release! Enjoy!

All Occasion Sentiments #6 £4.95

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2015

www.uniko.co.uk

As per customer request, the next addition to the All Occasion Sentiment series is here! Although Thanksgiving is not celebrated in the UK, Bev opted for an Autumnal kind of feel to the set with the large outlined THANKS and added in a few other popular sentiments.

Background Builders: Triangulate £9.95

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2015

www.uniko.co.uk

Geometrics and tribal patterns are still a huge trend within the paper crafting industry, so Bev started designing and created her own version, Triangulate. This set is very similar to the previously released Background Builders: Round In Circles and Background Builders: Squared, adding more stamping mix and match possibilities.

Natures Treasures II £4.95

Copyright Uniko Ltd 2015

www.uniko.co.uk

Last up we have Natures Treasures II, the next in the series with a variety of leaves and foliage. This addition to the Natures Treasures series came about as Bev LOVES to add leaves to a cluster of flowers on a CAS card. She also LOVES making her supplies and stamps stretch without breaking the bank! 

This set has a nifty feature in that the single leaves from Beautiful Blooms II and Flower Power #6 coordinate with the larger leaves in this set for EVEN MORE possibilities.

Ready to see my card?! Here I've used All Occasion Sentiments #6 and Triangulate sets. I wanted to stamp the triangles in a pattern that looks like confetti falling. I chose a masculine color palette and will be giving this to my hubby for his birthday in a couple months ;) The "36" are dies from Top Dog Dies. I die cut white card stock and inked it up with one of the coordinating triangle colors.

That's all from me, but as tradition holds we have our release day blog hop. Simply visit and comment along the hop by midnight Saturday, September 26th to be in the chance of winning the ENTIRE release! If you have already purchased any or all of the release a refund will be given.

So, let's see what Bev and the rest of the AWESOME Design Team have created...

Beverley - Uniko Studio

Deborah

Jane

Nicki ----> That's Me!

Sarah G

Sarah P

Don't forget to check the WINNERS post HERE to see if you are a Mystery Prize Winner!

Supplies:
Stamps: Uniko Studio - Background Builders: Triangulate, All Occasion Sentiments #6
Cardstock: PTI - White
Ink: Lawn Fawn - Hippo; PTI - Fine Linen; ColorBox (blue); VersaMagic - Jumbo Java
Other: Top Dog Dies Typewriter Numbers Die Set

Uniko Studio Challenge #22

Hi! Welcome to the next Uniko Studio Challenge!

We are happy to have two special Guest Designers joining us for this challenge! Please check out Anita's and Melissa's blog if you aren't familiar with their work, and to see their projects for this challenge!

THEME: ANYTHING GOES WITH OPTIONAL
TWIST OF A MASCULINE CARD

• You can use ANY stamps in the challenges
• You can enter as many times as you want and enter as many other challenges as you want combined with ours!

Since Father's Day is only two days away, I definitely had to go with the optional masculine twist. I'm really happy with the way this one turned out! The sailboat is paper pieced using Simple Stories patterned paper. The boat is on a die cut panel from Top Dog Dies, with TDD waves overlapping. The background was repeatedly stamped using the compass from the Uniko Nautical Treasures set. Lastly, the sentiment is stamped on more SS patterned paper, which is die cut from another TDD die! I love the color combo on this, and it was so fun combining all these products together to create a fun Father's Day card!

I hope I brought some inspiration to you, and I would LOVE to see you create something for our challenge!!

You have until Friday, July 3rd, 2:00am CST, to link your card up on the Uniko Blog. 

How to WIN some Uniko gift vouchers!!

• The DT will choose a winner who will get a £10 gift voucher
• The DT will choose a top 3, and they will each get 50 Loyalty Reward Points added to their customer account
• There will be a random draw for those who used a Uniko stamp and the winner will get 150 Loyalty Reward Points added to their customer account
• There will be a random draw for those who twist with us (masculine card) and they will receive 100 Loyalty Reward Points added to their customer account.

Supplies:
Stamps: Uniko Studio - Nautical Treasures
Cardstock: PTI - Rustic White
Patterned Paper: Simple Stories - So Rad 6x6 paper pad, and So Rad SN@P! cards
Dies: Top Dog Dies - Water Die Set, Pocket Pages Banner Die Set
Other: Foam tape

Uniko Studio Challenge #18 - Birthday

Hi! Welcome to the next Uniko Studio Challenge! As I mentioned in the last challenge post, we've revamped the challenges to bring more variety and make it possible for everyone to participate. Yay! Here's the deets:

• Challenges will run for 2 weeks only and will begin on the 3rd Friday of each month
• You can use ANY stamps in the challenges
• You can enter as many times as you want and enter as many other challenges as you want combined with ours!

We are happy to have a very creative Guest Designer joining us for this challenge! Please check out Tracey's McNeely's blog if you aren't familiar with her work, and to see her project for this challenge!

THEME: BIRTHDAY!

This month's theme is Birthday. Perfect for those of you who have purchased some of the new release sets this month!

I definitely need to have more masculine birthday cards on hand, so here's what I came up with. I used a few different sets (links below in supply list), and kept it pretty CAS.

~TIP~ Did you notice the balloon strings?? Wondering where it came from?? Well, I took the straight balloon string from Balloon Bash and positioned it in a curved, wavy line on the acrylic block before inking it up.

You have until Friday, March 6th, 2:00am CST, to link your card up on the Uniko Blog. 

How to WIN some Uniko gift vouchers!!

• The DT will choose a winner who will get a £20 Gift Voucher for Uniko Studio plus be invited to be a Guest Designer for our next challenge
• Our DT will also choose a top 3 and they will each get a £5 Gift Voucher
• If you do use a Uniko product we will do a random selected prize to win a £10 gift voucher

Supplies:
Stamps: Uniko Studio - Balloon Bash, Simply Said Birthday, Background Builders: Squared
Cardstock: PTI - Rustic Cream; SU - Kraft
Ink: PTI -True Black; SU - Real Red
Other: Foam Tape, Corner Rounder

Masculine Birthday

Hello! Poppin' in real quick to share a masculine birthday card I made for my BIL. I'm really diggin' this!! I rarely use a black card base, but LOVE the contrast of the white and yellow with it! The yellow chevron is washi tape, BTW!

Supplies: 
Stamps: PTI - Watercolor Wonder, Giga Guide Lines (sentiment)
Cardstock: PTI - White; Stampin' Up! - Basic Black
Ink: Staz-On - Black; Sweet Stamps - White Dye Ink
Die: PTI - One Liners: Happy
Other: Washi Tape

Uniko Studio Challenge #15

Welcome to the next challenge over at Uniko Studio! We are back to a color palette and CAS theme this month. You are free to use any of your Uniko Studio clear stamp sets or dies, or some of the FREE printables found on the Uniko website.

This is a cool, rustic color palette and inspiration photo, right? Hopefully there is something here that will get your creative mojo going. Feel free to use any or all of the colors.

It took me awhile to come up with a design for this. I tend to use brighter colors, but I also thought this is a great masculine color palette! With several birthdays coming up next month for some guys in my life, it was perfect to start on their cards ;)

I am actually really happy with the overall design! This is what I love about challenges. They make me think outside the box because I know I would have never created this on my own, especially this color scheme. I'm loving the added texture at the bottom of the card. All stamps used are from the Strike a Pose stamp set.

So glad you stopped by and I hope I've inspired you to create a CAS card for the current challenge!!

You've got plenty of time to enter your project. November 14th, 09:00 UK time is the deadline. The winner will be announced by November 17th on the Uniko Studio blog.

The Prizes:

• A £20 Gift Certificate to the Winner & Guest Design Team spot on the blog for the next challenge
• Top Three Spotlight & £5 Gift Certificate

Supplies: 
Stamps: Uniko Studio - Strike a Pose
Cardstock: PTI - Soft Stone; SU - Kraft
Ink: PTI - Smokey Shadow, Classic Kraft, Soft Stone; Stampin' Up! - Taken with Teal
Other: Cuttlebug Embossing Folder - Tiny Mosaic; Washi Tape - Hobby Lobby; SU - Corner Rounder; Foam Tape

Masculine Birthday Card

Hey there! I hope everyone had a great Easter. Ours was very nice. It was a BEAUTIFUL day, and we spent lots of time with family ;)

I'm popping in today to share a masculine birthday card. I have a feeling you would agree with me that you can never have enough inspiration for masculine cards. Am I right?!?!

This was super easy and quick to create. I used three different Uniko Studio stamp sets (see links in supply list below). It's one layer, and no embellishments. Hope you like it ;)

Supplies: Uniko Studio - All Occasion Sentiments #2, Background Builders: Squared; Accent Essentials: Arrows
Cardstock: PTI -Fine Linen
Ink: PTI - True Black, Smokey Shadow, Classic Kraft; TH Distress Ink - Faded Jeans, Fired Brick

A boy/guy card...

Hey everyone!

I hope you're all doing great! I have another card to share with you featuring Uniko Studio's February Release sets---which are now available to purchase on the website!

I know I'm not alone in saying that it can be pretty difficult creating cards for the men or boys in our lives. Well, two of the sets this month are PERFECT for masculine cards!! I have combined Explosion and Background Builders: Squared for this super fun card.

The long checkerboard pattern was created by stamping the small square checkerboard stamp repeatedly (it was really easy!). Then, underneath that I stamped the empty squares stamp twice. The explosion image was stamped on a separate piece of card stock and fussy cut, then popped up with foam tape. Very simple card!

I would love to hear your feedback! Thanks for stopping by today ;)

Supplies: 
Stamps: Uniko Studio - Explosion!, Background Builders: Squared
Cardstock: PTI - White; SU - Basic Black
Ink: SU - Real Red; Staz-On: Black
Other: Foam Squares

PTI MIM #112 - Embossed Alpha Die Cuts

I'm sneaking in my project for the current PTI Make it Monday #112 - Embossed Alpha Die Cuts!

I wanted to make the embossed letters have some character, so I used one of the stamps from the Square Prints set and stamped the stripes onto the white die cut letters. Then, covered them in embossing ink, and embossed with clear EP.

Here is a close-up of the embossed letters. I love the way it shines!

Thanks for visiting!

Supplies
Stamps: PTI - Boy Basics: Rock On (guitar); Square Prints (stripes); Think Big Favorites #12 (HAPPY)
Cardstock: PTI - White, Royal Velvet; Stampin' Up! - Kraft
Ink: PTI: Royal Velvet, Kraft; TH Distress: Fired Brick; Stampin' Up! - Mellow Moss
Other: PTI Lowercase alpha dies; clear embossing powder; dimensionals

Papertrey Ink August Blog Hop

I'm thrilled to participate in the Papertrey Ink August Blop Hop! The theme this month is Autumn Textiles. It makes me a little sad though, because that means summer is quickly coming to a close. I do look forward to some slightly cooler temps, but I'm just not ready for summer to be over!!

One thing I look forward to in the fall is my wedding anniversary. Since the fall brings lots of earthy/manly colors, I thought it would be perfect to make my hubby's anniversary card for this hop. I think this card will go down in history as the earliest I've EVER made a card LOL (our anniv. isn't until mid Sept)!

I would have loved to used some burlap or felt, but I didn't have any on hand and didn't have a chance to shop. To incorporate some fall texture, I used the houndstooth stamp from the Mat Stack 5 Collection, and stuck with a very fall color scheme. The stamps from Modern Basics remind me of leaves, so I stamped them behind the Mat Stack 5 diecut. For some embellishment, twine is wrapped around the popped up diecut. Three buttons at the bottom add some more interest!

Thanks for making me one of your stops along the hop, and enjoy viewing all the wonderful creations!!

Supplies:

Stamps: Papertrey Ink - Mat Stack 5 Collection, Modern Basics, Beautiful Butterflies (sentiment)

Cardstock: SU -Kraft; PTI - Rustic Cream

Ink:SU - Mellow Moss, Night of Navy; Tsukineko - Jumbo Java, Pumpkin

Other: PTI Mat Stack 5 Die, PTI Buttons, Twine, Dimensionals

CAS-ual Fridays CFC #29 - it's a sketch!

It's been quite a while since I participated in a challenge! I went with CAS-ual Fridays this time around since I really liked the sketch for the current challenge.

I made this masculine card for my dad for his birthday. It's pretty simple and basic. I stamped the dots and swirls on the Linen cardstock, then ran it through the embossing folder for added interest. I hope this has inspired you in some way today! Thanks for taking a peek!

Supplies:

Stamps: Papertrey Ink - Grunge Me, Modern Basics (sentiment)

Cardstock: PTI - Linen, Rustic Cream; SU - Basic Black

Ink: SU - Basic Black, Mellow Moss

Other: Embossing Folder - Tiny Mosaic (Cuttlebug); Twine: Divine Twine

Make it Monday #39 - background building

Oh boy do I LUUVVV this week's PTI Make it Monday!! Creating your own custom background papers using stamps is just limitless!! I would make 100 cards for this challenge if I only had the time ;)

November is a very busy card month for me. My hubby, dad, and bro-in-law all have Nov bdays! Plus, we have a wedding to attend next week, so I gotta get on the ball and make a card for that too! :)

Well, I am ahead of the game a little for one b-day card (I am notorious for making last-minute cards!) thanks to this MIM!

My hubby loves music. Playing it, listening to it, talking about it, and singing along with it (often times changing very nice lyrics to very inappropriate ones) :/ Anyway, I finally got my hands on a couple "Dude" stamp sets, and I'm just loving them! My very girly stamp collection was in desperate need of some masculinity ;)

To highlight the guitar, I adhered it to the black diecut, popped up the diecut and the sentiment for added dimension. I love how this turned out....I think it's pretty Rockin'! :D

Supplies:

Stamps: Papertrey Ink - Boy Basics: Rock On; Grunge Me

Cardstock: PTI - White; SU - Going Gray, Basic Black

Ink: SU - Cherry Cobbler, Elegant Eggplant; TH Distress Ink - Pumice Stone, Tea Dye, Faded Jeans

Other: Nesties Circles, Dimensionals

DeNami & Wee Memories Challenges

Hi! I'm here to show you a very fun little card. This one is for two challenges: DeNami Boy Theme Challenge, and Wee Memories Scrappy Saturday Tangled Up (using twine). It's been about a year now since I've discovered DeNami stamps, and I did not own ONE single Chickie stamp until very recently! Don't get me wrong, they are the cutest little things, but I tend to lean toward the elegant/girly stamps, so the chickies were lower on my priority/wish list, lol. When I saw the Pirate Chickie for the first time, I thought I just had to get it because my husband gets such a kick out of pirates. I can't wait to give him a card with the pirate chickie, whether it's this one or a different one! I know he will just smile and laugh once he sees it--and who doesn't like to see their honey smile? ;-)

Ok, so here's what I did. The ship base is made from a Spellbinders Nesties Label Four die, cut in half the long way. Then I dry embossed it and inked up the edges slightly. For the ship's masts, I just hand drew the shapes and cut them out. I stamped each one with the DeNami Mini Starlet (it needed something--it was too plain with nothin' on 'em), and inked the edges. The light blue piece was dry embossed with a wavy folder. I glued the twine on that piece, then adhered the boat, then each mast was popped up with dimensionals. The chickies are colored with Prismacolor pencils, cut out and popped up. The finishing touch is the twine around the edge!! This was so fun to make! I hope I inspired you today :) I would love to hear your feedback--thanks for stopping by!

--- Be sure to come back Friday for my debut on the Cardabilities Design Team! ---

Supplies:

Stamps: DeNami - Pirate Chickie, Mini Starlet

Cardstock: Stampin' Up - Bashful Blue, Ballet Blue
Ink: Tsukineko - Jumbo Java

Other: Nesties Labels Four, Tiny Mosaic and Just my Type Embossing Folders, Cappuccino Twine-The Twinery, Prismacolor Pencils, Dimensionals

Paper Therapy Challenge #21 - Technique

Good morning and Happy President's Day! It's time for the next challenge over at Paper Therapy! This week it's a technique challenge. Use the Negative part of a die-cut on your project. There are many possibilities for this. I would love to see you get creative and join us!

My brother recently graduated from college, so I needed a Congrats card. I chose my color palette, decided to use an embossing folder, and then cut out the die-cut from that. So, first I cut the vertical strips of cardstock, arranged them, flipped it over, and taped them together using Scotch tape. Then I ran it thru the Spellbinder's Wizard to cut out the die shape in the center. After that, I ran it thru again using the Tiny Mosaic Embossing Folder! It was so fun to watch the background come together! A couple buttons and some Baker's Twine are the finishing touches to this masculine card. I would love to hear your feedback. Thanks for visiting me today!

Supplies:

Stamps: Stampin' Up! - Cap: Year After Year; congratulations: Hugs & Wishes

Cardstock: SU - Very Vanilla, Kraft, Brocade Blue, Bashful Blue

Ink: Tsukineko VersaMagic - Jumbo Java

Other: Nesties Large Labels, Tiny Mosaic CB Emb. Folder, Buttons-SU, Twinery Twine, Dimensionals

Paper Therapy Challenge #8 - It's a Guy Thing!

Hello and welcome to another Paper Therapy challenge! If you are not familiar with Paper Therapy, it's an online forum for card makers and scrapbookers to share their work, chat about crafting and life in general. There are also swaps and challenges too! Every Monday there is a new challenge posted in the forum HERE. You have until the following Saturday night to upload your project based on that week's challenge. The first challenge of every month will receive a prize and a blinkie. We would love to have you play along! It's a very fun community of crafters!

This week you must create a project for a guy (child or adult). I am a girly girl and love making cards with flowers and cutesy stuff, so sometimes it IS quite a challenge to come up with a card for a guy. I have recently done some dry embossing because I finally got the right plates to use my Cuttlebug folders in my Spellbinders Wizard. So I wanted to play with the Tiny Mosaic folder. I love how much texture that embossing brings to cards. Makes it so interesting, in my opinion. Ok, so here's what I did on this. I stamped a large background stamp on a piece of vanilla cs with distress ink. It is kind of a blurry/abstract stamp, and with the ink, it just kinda looked like a mess, lol! After that, I embossed it. Then I took an ink applicator and applied cool caribbean ink and the distress ink in random places, while still letting the vanilla cardstock show through in some areas. Very fun technique! I really liked doing this. Very easy, and the possibilities are endless with multiple colors, different embossing folders, etc! For the sentiment on the oval nestie, I used the ink applicator to add just a little color on the inside edge of the embossed oval. Also added a touch of the chocolate chip ink on the outer edge of the oval. It's a simple design, but can be adapted for any occasion or recipient. THANKS FOR STOPPING BY!

Supplies:

Stamp: Stampin' Up - Eat Cake

Cardstock: Stampin' Up - Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, (other is unknown)
Ink: SU Cool Carribean, Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Tea Dye, SU Chocolate Chip

Other: Nesties Classic Ovals Large, Cuttlebug Embossing Folder - Tiny Mosaic, Ink Applicator, SU Corner Rounder, SU - Twine

Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge #164

Happy Saturday! Today I have a quick post to share with you. For the first time, I decided to participate in the Mojo Monday challenge! The sketch this week is really great. Today is my husband's birthday, so I used the sketch to create a card for him. I hope it's masculine enough! I finally used some of my Papertrey Ink stamps I bought over the summer. I just love the Giga Guide Lines set. You will probably see more cards using this set soon! I'm thinking of making some Christmas cards with it.
I hope you like what I created! If you are new to my blog and like my work, I would love more followers! ;-) Be sure to stop by again tomorrow (Sunday) for the awesome DeNami Christmas Blog Hop!!! There are 22 designers this time, so you will surely get a good dose of Christmas inspiration!!!

Supplies:

Stamps: Papertrey Ink - Giga Guide Lines

Cardstock: Stampin' Up - Basic Black, Whisper White
Patterned Paper: Me & My Big Ideas - Black and White Free Spirit Specialty CS

Ink: Staz-on - Black, Brilliance - Starlite Silver

Other: Ribbon - SU Black Grosgrain, Nesties - Standard Circles Small, Classic Squares Small

Simple Masculine Card

I made this card a few months ago, and realized I never posted it! It's always a challenge for me to come up with a guy card, and I am very pleased with this one! I used Stampin' Up's Circle Circus set and Happy Everything. I love sets that have such fun, detailed patterns. I stuck with the common blues and browns I often use for masculine cards. It's a simple yet appealing card, what do you think? I'd love to hear from you! I'm happy to have new visitors and followers on my blog  ;-)
 

Supplies:

Stamps: SU - Circle Circus, Happy Everything

Cardstock: SU - Ballet Blue, Chocolate Chip, Kraft

Ink: SU - Chocolate Chip, Whisper White

Ribbon: Joann's Papercrafting Ribbon

Other: Miscellaneous Circle Punches, Brad - SU, Dimensional

Masculine Birthday - Stripes

I love making feminine/flowery cards, so when I have to make a masculine card it can sometimes be a challenge for me. I feel like there is a limited amount of manly colors (and stamps) to choose from! I used basic stamping on this card. The paper piercer tool was used to add a little bit of detail around the present. I also added a touch of color to the present with the Mint Spica Marker. Enjoy!

Supplies:

Stamps: Stampin' Up - Year After Year (present), Eat Cake (happy birthday)

Cardstock: Stampin' Up - Kraft, Very Vanilla, Sage Shadow. DCWV - Brown.
Patterned Paper: Cloud9Design - Travel Stripe

Ink: Stampin' Up - Chocolate Chip craft ink

Other: Stampin' Up Twill Tape, Paper Piercer, Spica Marker - Mint