Uniko - Always & Forever Revisited

This month at Uniko we're revisiting a much loved stamp set of mine - Always & Forever. And with Valentine's Day coming up what could be more on trend than that?

Want to win this stamp set and more? Then check out all the DT sample cards and leave us some love and who knows it could be your lucky day! More details about the prize and bloghop order at the end of this post.

My first card is very CAS and I've let the stamp take centre stage. And I'm loving the striking effect of the ombre ink pad combined with this stamp.

I chose a stitched circle die to echo the stitching round the edge of the heart.

Supplies:
Stamps: Uniko, Always & Forever
Inks: Hero Arts Ombre, pool to navy
Die: Lawn Fawn, large stitched circle stackables 

My second card features some of my favourite colours blended across the stamp. This was achieved using a kaleidacolor ink pad.

I used a stiched rectangular die to cut my heart panel and trimmed off the left hand side to keep it slimline before adding just a hint of purple under it.

Supplies:
Stamps: Uniko, Always & Forever
Inks: Kaleidacolor, berry blaze
Die: Lil'inker, stitched mats rectangles 

My final card uses the other heart stamp from the set and mostly black with just a pop of bright turquoise along two sides.

Two of the black sprinkle enamel dots are partially hidden under the square mat - I'd seen this look around blogland quite a lot before Christmas and decided to give it a go myself.

I added a liberal coat of wink of stella to the heart which gives it a really glossy sparkly look in real life.

Supplies:
Stamps: Uniko, Always & Forever
Inks: Memento, tuxedo black
Die: Spellbinders, classic square large
Embellishments: Freckled Fawn, enamel dew drops; Wink of Stella

So all you need to do now is get hopping along to be in with a chance to win this featured set along with an eGift certificate for £10 to spend in store. Or if you already own this set an eGift certificate for £15. You have until midnight Sunday 17th Jan to comment and the winner will be announced on Monday 18th. Here's the blog hop order:

Beverley

Deborah

* Jane - that's me *
Lindsey

Sarah P

Thanks for dropping by today and here's hoping it's you that wins that prize. Good luck!

And keep crafting!

CAS Colours & Sketches #155

Today sees the first challenge for 2016 at CAS Colours & Sketches. And we're welcoming our new  Design Team members:  Beverley, Caro, Karen, and Liz!

It's the first Thursday of the month, which means we have a colour challenge.  What will you create with these cool wintry colours?

I needed a get well card and used the colours as a backdrop for a silhouette stamp. The shadow is made by stamping for a second time without re-inking the stamp.

Supplies:
Stamps: Clearly Besotted, Simple Silhouettes, Geometric Style
Inks: SU, marina mist, pool party, smoky slate; Memento, tuxedo black
Die: Lil'inker, stitched mats rectangles

Have you got your New Year creativity going yet? Why not give these colours a try? Pop on over to CAS Colours & Sketches to check out all the DT designs and our fabulous Guest Designer for January - Maaike.

Thanks for visiting today. And keep crafting!

Let's December Daily

My last few pages of my December album go live at tonight at Let's December Daily. There will be one more share later this month rounding up our thoughts about 2015's albums. But here's a few extra photos to give you a taste of what's included today.

Peace and quiet as they got stuck in to their new toys.

Presents for the big kids too!

Favourite activity - sign of our times!

Just to show they can move!

Precious moment watching their cousin and poised to jump in if he needed help.

Totally amazed by a whole shop full of toys - island living doesn't offer this opportunity.

Difficult to choose!

Not the best photo, but marking a milestone moment when both Niall and Iain were coerced into playing a game.

Thanks for looking today. Hope you'll find time to pop over to Let's December Daily to see my pages.

The Male Room - Challenge #26 Anything Goes

Today we're off to a cracking 2016 start at The Male Room with such an easy peasy themed challenge it'd be rude not to play along!

And this is the card I gave to my dad - very CAS and quick to make, so a bit of a bonus there too!

I die cut the HAPPY and placed it on top of bright turquoise patterned paper and then simply stamped the rest of the sentiment with a trio of star clusters. What could be simpler than that?

Supplies:
Stamps: Uniko, All Occasion Sentiments #2, Balloon Bash
Inks: SU, Bermuda Bay, whisper white
Die: Die-namics, happy
Paper: Doodlebug, kraft in colour

What will you create? Looking forward to visiting your blogs and leaving some love. The rest of the DT cards can be seen here - aren't they all fabulous?

Thanks for looking today. And keep crafting!

The Memory Nest - Make It Monday Challenge #51

Today sees the start of a new year of scrapbook challenges over at The Memory Nest. I'm lucky to be staying as part of the DT and always love their sketches. There are also some very talented new DT members and you'll be wanting to check them out, you're bound to be inspired.

Here's the first sketch for 2016:

And as I always do I've made a page to introduce my yearly album with some thoughts about how I'm going to approach the year ahead. I've also included the word that I will be focussing on for 2016 - FEARLESS.

I really love the cloud element of this sketch and puzzled for a while about how to include it. Then I decided to hand draw it - FEARLESS you see! In fact I went on and added two smaller accent clouds top left and bottom right to draw the eye down and across the page.

There are quite a lot of paint splatters following the ame diagonal line, but they don't show up in the photos that well. 

I also put a set of three star stickers to highlight the important bits at the bottom of the page and a smaller gem set at the top of the page to lead the eye down to the photo.

Supplies:
Papers: Webster's, Happy; AC, Rise & Shine; Bo Bunny, A Gift of Love
Stamp: SU, Gorgeous Grunge
Inks: SU, pink pirouette, soft sky
Die: Xcut, spiro circles
Alpha: AC, dear lizzy woodland
Embellishments: MAMBI, star stickers; MeiFlower, gems

Thanks so much for dropping by today, hope you're ready to start your new scrapbooking year and will give this Memory Nest sketch a go.

And keep crafting! 

AAA Cards Challenge #55 Glitter

Welcome to the first AAA Cards challenge of the New Year. Well I don't know about you but I'm about ready to take down the Christmas decorations and the last of my visiting family make their way back home tomorrow.  Just the long haul of cold January weather to look forward to!

So to keep your spirits up and tempt you out of hibernation AAA Cards would like to see some glitter on your cards. And there's a winner's prize - a $20 Stampendous gift certificate - definitely worth staying awake for!

As always glitter is so difficult to do justice to in photos you'll just have to trust me this card is well sparkly!

Both the background and butterfly stamps have a coat of wink of stella, the scalloped circle and pink butterfly are cut from glitter card and the sprinkle dot is glittered.

Here's a little close up that begins to show the sparkle:

Supplies:
Stamps:Papermania, Urban Stamps Travel; Uniko, English Country Garden Butterflies, Flower Power #2; SU, Gorgeous Grunge
Inks: Memento, tuxedo black; SU, wisteria wonder
Die: Uniko, Graphic Flowers Time
Punch: Martha Stewart, butterfly; Xcut, corner rounder
Embellishments: Doodlebug Sprinkles, love glitter asst.

Are you ready to kick start your 2016 creativity? Hoping to see your glittery creations pop up in our gallery! Go check out the rest of the DT creations - here - and then get busy.  Your card could be the lucky prize winner.

Thanks for dropping by my blog today, your visit is always much appreciated.

Let's December Daily

Welcome back and Happy New Year! 

Today I'm sharing some photos from my December album and my next batch of pages is up on the Let's December Daily blog - days 19, 20, 21 & 22 here and days 23, 24, 25 & 26 here.

Wondering what's going on!

The obligatory orange from Santa.

Two who know exactly what's going on!

Not with us for Christmas day, but keeping in contact through the wonders of the internet.

Our Christmas lunch

And back to the presents and getting the hang of it all by now!

This paper looks interesting, I think I'll rip it!

Feel free to give me a hand.

And if you want to know what was in the box you'll need to hop over to Let's December Daily for the reveal!

Thanks for your time today and hoping to see you loads more over the coming year.

Sending New Year hope and sparkle!