Geometric Butterflies In All Manner of Colours

I am a huge fan of Bev's Ink and Flip stencils and when we had our recent mash-up back in May, I purchased the Ink and Flip Geometric Butterfly Layering Stencil and finally managed to get some time this week to play with it.

I'm also a huge fan of all the In Color Inks from Stampin' Up!, including the fabulous new magnetic ink pads in the 2026-28 colours - Barely Blush, Peaceful Pine, Golden Glow, Hydrangea Hue and Crisp Cantaloupe.

What happens when you mash them all together? A joyful and bright fusion of colour and style, that's what! 

Here's what you need and how to make them:

Supplies:

• Ink and Flip Geometric Butterfly Layering Stencil
• Ink and Flip Layering Retro Flowers Stencil  
• In Color Inks 2024-6 Peach Pie, Shy Shamrock, Pretty in Pink, Summer Splash and Peach Pie Cardstock
• In Color Inks 2025-7 Cloud Cover, Secret Sea, Strawberry Slush, Darling Duckling and Darling Duckling and Cloud Cover Cardstock
• In Color Inks 2026-8Crisp Canteloupe, Hydrangea Hue, Barely Blush, Golden Glow and Hydrangea Hue Cardstock
• Per card two pieces of white cardstock 4.5 x 4.5 inches 
• White card for inking butterfly apron 3.5 x 3.5 inches
• Circle Die 3.25 inches in diameter
• Blending Brushes
• Glue
• Foam pads

Method:

1. Ink up your butterfly in two of the colours from whichever In Color set you're using and fussy cut.
2. Cut a piece of card 5 x 10 inches in one of the butterfly's colours. Score and fold at 5 inches to make your card base.
3. With the two colours you didn't ink your butterfly in, ink up your layering retro flowers stencil onto one of the white pieces of card
4. Die cut the circle from the other white piece of card
5. Using foam pads attach the card with the circle aperture on top of the flower stencilled card
6. Attach this to the front of the card base
7. With foam pads and glue, attach the butterfly on top in the bottom left hand corner.

There's a reason I love these colours - they just all go together so well. The possibilities are endless too with 5 ink pads in each collection. What is your favourite? I don't recommend things I don't absolutely love and all of the inks I absolutely love!

To get your hands on the In Color 2025-7 and In Color 2026-8, head on over to my Stampin' Up! shop. 

Thanks so much for reading, and I hope you get some crafty time this week.

Fruity Stencils and Funky Colours

I discovered when prepping for the recent Uniko and Stampin' Up! Mash-Up All Day Retreat (there's another one coming on 26th September so save the date!) that I owned quite a few purple inks - not a colour I'd immediately think of to buy, but ones that I have somehow managed to accrue.

I then decided to have a look through what other ranges of inks I had, and use them to ink up this fabulously fruity Uniko stencil, which I'm trying to persuade Bev to get back into stock as I took the last one!

Here they all are, along with the ink colours used. You can find all the products I used in my Stampin' Up! shop:

1. HELLO 

Card base - 14.8 x 21 cm, folded at 10.5cm

Granny Apple Green Panel - 13.8 x 9.5cm

Stencilled Panel - 13.3 x 9 cm

Colours of ink used - Lemon-Lime Twist, Daffodil Delight, Darling Duckling, Golden Glow

I die cut a sentiment from the panel and then 3 others in plain white and layered them all up and popped it back into the card. Love the look.

2. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ORANGE

Card Base - Timid Tiger 14.3 x 21cm folded at 10.5cm

White card - 10 x 13.8cm

Stencilled Panel cut into two cm strips - 10 x 13.8cm

Sentiment: Timid Tiger - 6 x 2.5 cm; White card - 5.5 x 2cm

Inks used - Crisp Cantaloupe, Peach Pie, Pumpkin Pie, Timid Tiger

To make the double vision technique, cut the stencilled panel into 2cm strips and alternate glueing one strip, then using foam pads for the next.

3. HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIME

Card Base - Granny Apple Green 14.3 x 21cm folded at 10.5cm

White card - 10 x 13.8cm

Stencilled Panel cut into two cm strips - 10 x 13.8cm

Sentiment: Granny Apple Green - 6 x 2.5 cm; White card - 5.5 x 2cm

Inks used - Lemon-Lime Twist, Granny Apple Green, Peaceful Pine, Garden Green

To make the double vision technique, cut the stencilled panel into 2cm strips and alternate glueing one strip, then using foam pads for the next.

3. HELLO FRIEND

Card base Strawberry Slush - 14.8 x 21 cm, folded at 10.5cm

Flirty Flamingo Panel - 13.8 x 9.5cm

Stencilled Panel - 13.3 x 9 cm

Colours of ink used - Barely Blush, Pretty In Pink, Flirty Flamingo, Strawberry Slush

I die cut a sentiment from the panel and then 3 others in plain white and layered them all up and popped it back into the card.  I added a small sentiment in Strawberry Slush Ink and popped it up on foam pads.

I thoroughly enjoyed the process of working out the best colour combinations and the best layering technique - lighter first works the best.

Whatever you are doing today, be bold and have a play!

Core Memories...

Everybody needs a friend like Justine. I've known her for 25 years and we first met through a friend of mine (Kathleen) who I'd known at Glasgow University and who had moved to Oxford University to do a PhD (I know a lot of smart friends!). She had met Justine as they were studying in similar fields (Classics, it's not a very big world) and as I was working at the University in one of the libraries, she introduced me. 

Like a lot of friendships over the years we've flitted in and out of each other's lives, but this past year or so, we've been back in touch more regularly, and she's popped in to see me in Leeds on her way back further up north, when this photo was taken last October. 

This was one memory I was definitely going to be keeping and so this page was born. As it happens, I've met up with Kathleen early this year in Oxford and so this will eventually become a double page spread.

I've been making good use of the Party Alphabet dies on my pages lately, and stencils from Uniko - this one is the Layering Retro Lines - along with the new ink colours for 2026-8, which I absolutely love, not just for their colours, but because they are now the magnetic closures which makes my life a whole lot easier in opening them.

This year is definitely becoming the year of reconnecting with friends. I have a trip planned to Dublin later on in the year with some other friends I lost touch with, and I will definitely be keeping those memories too.

Justine is definitely one of a kind. A kind, wild, helpful, intelligent and thoughtful person, who has faced challenges and overcome them. I'm very glad that she's in my life, and I am definitely the better for it.

Keep those memories of your friends, they deserve to be remembered.

Hunky Dory - Card stock and Toppers Review

Hello! I'm back again today with more from Hunky Dory. This time I chose a block of card stock - Ink Me! 6" x 6" Essential Card Block - and a packet of toppers - Watercolour Wings Topper Deck. Toppers are not something I would naturally choose, as I am more of a stamp and colour girl, but I like to try new things and thought it would be good to have something different to review.

I tried several things with the Ink Me! card block. I really like the size as I can cut it down to size for a standard US A2 or UK C5 card blank without too much wastage. It is also a nice thickness and very smooth, so I tried both ink blending and some Copic colouring:

1. Ink Blending with Distress Inks and Distress Oxides with Stencils

I had a play around with various distress inks and oxides and a couple of stencils. They were really easy to use with both a blending tool and my ink duster. I used some stencils from my stash from Funky Fossil Designs and Clearly Besotted Stamps and they worked really well. The ink went on nicely, didn't smear and I blended two colours together easily. I used Spun Sugar on one and managed to build up layers easily to get a darker colour. 

I now have several of these pretty butterfly bride to make up into cards - perfect for birthdays, weddings, engagements. I do love a good stencil session!

2. Toppers and a card

  Part of the reason I got the topper pack was because I loved the designs. I am a huge fan of owls and when I saw the watercolour designs, I thought they could be used for lots of different projects - and even be cut out - I do love a bit of fussy cutting.

On this card, I took a card blank from my stash (a C5) and cut the stencilled background I'd made from the previous stencil session (birch tree background) down to size to fit. I adhered it with some double sided tape. As I already had my distress inks out, I decided to do something I rarely ever do, distress ink the edges. I thought this went so well, I inked up the edges of my card blank as well. I then attached the topper onto the background with some foam pads. Easy as pie and I really like the outcome.

The toppers are also a really nice quality card, the designs very pleasing on the eye - watercolouring being quite the thing at the moment - and they can be easily made up into cards.

I used my own card blanks, but Hunky Dory also have a range you can use to make your final cards with:

https://www.hunkydorycrafts.co.uk/papercraft/card-making-supplies/card-blanks.html 

3. Copic Colouring

  I do a lot of Copic colouring and use speciality cardstock for it, but I always like to try any new card, especially if it's nice and smooth, which the Ink Me! is. I wouldn't recommend it solely for Copic Colouring, but I managed a decent blend on this Stamping Bella image without much bleeding, which I find can get with Neenah, the alternative I sometimes use. I definitely wouldn't dismiss it for the Copics, for quick colouring, if you have it to hand.

A thank you to Hunky Dory Crafts for having me and for giving me the products to review. None of my links are affiliates and my views on the products are entirely my own. I hope you've found this useful, and if you have any questions, please leave me a comment or drop me an email.

Uniko Stencil Sunday

I'm back with another GD post for Uniko's Stencil Sunday spot and this time I've decided to get at least one card ready for Christmas. I always always struggle with Christmas cards. I need so many, so when I saw the Let It Snow stencil in the gift pack Bev sent me, I knew it would give me a quick, easy and effective way to get at least one under my belt!

I took a card blank and masked off the edges. I then took the two shades of blue Distress Oxides that I have in my stash (I feel I need more of these!) and started blending the darker (Blueprint Sketch) on the top of the card, before adding Mermaid Lagoon to the bottom. I blended until I got a smooth blend where they met, sort of half way and sort of at an angle.

I then placed the stencil on top and with a lightly damp cloth, I dabbed it through to remove some of the colour. It spreads a bit under the stencil, but I never mind this as I think it gives the impression of melting - at least with this stencil.

I kept the stencil on and with some white pigment ink dabbed it through as well on top, to give the snowflakes a bit more definition.

A few sequins and a very simple sentiment popped up on foam tape and that is my first Christmas card done. Definitely one to try again - maybe in different colours? 

Thank you so much to Bev for having me all through this month and thank you for joining me! Happy Crafting Everyone!

Uniko February Release Day Blog Hop and Treasure Hunt

I feel a little like Buddy the Elf today. I want to shout 'Uniko's coming, Uniko! I know her, I know her!' because today is RELEASE DAY! And you can get all the lovely products that myself and Bev and all the amazing design team have been showing you all week.

Today is a fabulous blog hop and Treasure Hunt. A little more sedate than Anneka Rice (just aged myself there!!), but just as exciting. 

The rules of the Treasure Hunt are:

1. Comment along the Blog Hop and find the icons
2. Email bev@uniko.co.uk with the following information:

• Design Team Member's Name & Balloon letter found 
• What the Balloons spell out

Entries should be emailed no later than Thursday 28th February 2019, for the winner to be announced Friday 1st March 2019.

And the prize?? The ENTIRE 7th Birthday February Release - Amazing!! That's 6 clear stamp sets, 2 co-ordinating designer dies collections and 1 stencil design. 

Now that's worth entering! And not only that, but Bev will also be drawing a random comment from the hop to win a £25 clear stamp prize package. Clearly Bev is well and truly in birthday mode!

For my card, I couldn't resist using that glorious Passiflora again. This time I stamped the outline image onto Copic friendly cardstock with Memento London Fog. I then added in details in different Memento inks and coloured the leaves with different shades of B and BV Copic markers.

I stamped the tendrils with some green, teal and grey Memento ink and cut all the images with the coordinating dies.

I could not resist using that abstract triangle stencil again - it's third outing this release, so you can tell how much I love it! - and did some very soft blending in the corner (again inspired by Lisa's post!) in greys.

I added the flowers to the top of the card and the sentiment to the bottom on top of the stencilling.

Next on the hop is Carol! Happy hopping, and good luck!

Uniko February Release - Intro Stencil Abstract Triangles & Birthday Wishes

Here I am again with another sneak peek and a card for Day 2 of the Uniko February Release. Today we are sharing a new stencil and a new very useful birthday sentiment stamp set.

I love Uniko stencils and I particularly like this one for its quirky design. It's called Abstract Triangles. I masked the stencil to give a border on a white card base and then did some simple ink blending through it in sunset colours (Picked Raspberry, Spiced Pumpkin and Mustard Seed).

I found some raspberry pink card stock in my stash and stamped and heat embossed the sentiment onto it with some Versa Mark ink and Wow! Bright White Fine embossing powder. I then trimmed this into a panel and used a We R Memory Keepers corner chomper on the edges. I wasn't sure about this as the abstract panel is very angular and the sentiment had very rounded edges, but the next day I really liked it!

I simply added the sentiment on top with some foam pads.

How are you all enjoying the release so far? I'm enjoying sharing all my makes. Please stop by all the DT members and Bev to see what they've created too.

I'll be back tomorrow with another card. Happy Crafting Everyone!

Stencil Sunday - Uniko Guest Design

I am absolutely delighted to be guest designing for Uniko who have a new feature called Stencil Sunday. I love Uniko and I especially love their stencils - great price, great quality.

Bev very kindly sent me a few stencils to add to my collection and I'm using the Natures Treasures II set with these beautiful leaves. You also get the negative and the positive which means even more options, but here I'm just using the negative.

All I did was take a blank white card base, and very carefully holding my stencil in place, blended some distress ink through the stencil. It's easier if you use a sweeping motion almost as if it's a blending brush. I didn't even tape it down with masking tape as no matter what I do, I end up tearing the card. I did one in each corner of one colour, and the other in the other corner in another - Mowed Lawn and Evergreen Bough.

Then all I did after that was stamp the sentiment in Versafine Onyx Black and Distress Oxide Lucky Clover.  Done!

With not getting much time for card making in between running a business, stencils can make beautiful and simple cards so easily. Indeed a friend recently said to me how much she loves my latest cards because they are so simple!

Thank you for having me Bev and thank you all for reading. I will be back this month with more Uniko goodies - release week is coming up and I shall be joining in. So excited to share! It's really got my mojo going again. Happy Crafting Everyone!

Christmas Owls and Moose - Clearly Besotted

Why hello! So, now that my birthday is over, I'm going into Christmas organising full tilt. How I'm doing is debatable, but the will is there! I wanted to get at least 30 Christmas cards made and today I finished up another four to finally get there. I then decided to write my list for handmade cards and realised I needed 40..... so another 10 will have to be found from somewhere soon!

Anyway, here are the four I made today from Clearly Besotted Stamps supplies. Some very simple Copic colouring on the owls and moose before I fussy cut them. Then I masked of a central piece in on the card blank and lightly dusted different light Altenew inks onto them through one of the new  Clearly Besotted stencils. This one is birch background and the inks are very light through them, and the photo doesn't do it justince. I then just glued on the moose and owls. 

 
I then found an old set called Sweet Little Sentiments, which at one point I was going to sell and I'm glad I didn't. The Merry Christmas fited just nicely and I inked it up with some VersaFine Onyx Black as it give such a clean impression first time round.

That, as they say is that!

I did my first ever Christmas Fair last weekend. Just a little one in the school. Oh my was I nervous, but I've had so much support from all my friends and family, it really kept me going. I had a couple of 'too expensive' mutters, but apart from that it was very positive - and exhausting. If you want to find out what I've been up to with my sewing, you can follow my adventures on Instagram and Facebook, as well as my Etsy shop itself.

So I'll be back before Christmas I hope with some more cards now that I have to make those extra 10!

Thanks so much for stopping by, Happy Crafting Everyone :)

Christmas Cards with Stencils and Copics - VIDEO

I'm staying on the theme of Christmas cards for the time being, and mass production, but unlike my last video, I've done a bit more colouring and added in some stencilling and die cutting. I've still kept it fairly clean and simple.

This is another of the cute angels from Pretty Pink Posh (you can get them in Dies to Die For in the UK). I've used a cloud stencil on the background, die cut the top panel with an MFT stitched window die and added a simple sentiment. I've popped up the die cut panel over the clouds and added in the Copic coloured and fussy cut angel with some foam pads.

You can see more of the process in my video either below or over on my YouTube channel (this is an external site and will have cookies). 

I'm also only 1 away from 300 subscribers! I know this is peanuts compared to some of you, but for me this is a huge leap, so thank you to everyone who stops by to watch and support. You are all appreciated more than you know!

I find with mass production as long as you have a clear production line, even more complicated cards can be pretty quickly done.

I'm pretty busy with getting my Etsy shop up and running and have an Etsy mentor who is making me do lots of inventory and work on my processes and make up as many bags as possible.I'm hoping that in the next three weeks, I'll have some more in the shop. Watch this space!

As always, thank you for stopping by and Happy Crafting :)

Love Nature

Do you ever wonder why you spend so much on craft supplies, especially colouring media, when you can use your children's pens and get really great results?

A while ago to entertain the kiddies one day after school we got out their blow pens and I decided to join them with my own stencils and I used this gorgeous one from Simon Says Stamp that I got some time ago and just haven't used to its full potential. 

While they were occupied using pink, purple and orange on balloons, I pinched three colours, two green and a yellow, and with just a basic white card blank I used my stencil and blew gently to create the pattern. You do have to blow fairly gently and steadily, something the children still have to work on.

With my Lawn Fawn Love die and some scrap green card I had, I die cut three and layered them up to get some dimension. I added the 'nature' from my SSS One With Nature set with some VersaFine Onyx Black before placing the 'Love' above.

Simple and yet so effective. It won't put me off buying Copics, but I may play with more of my kids supplies too! I would recommend washing your Blow Pens out after use - especially if you've had other children using them too. They do store quite a lot of moisture!

Happy Crafting Everyone :)

Uniko Guest Design - Surprise Stencil Release - Bright Butterflies

I'm back with my third and final card to celebrate the launch of new stencils from Uniko. As you'll have noticed from previous posts, I've been really enjoying stencils lately and all that you can do with them. For my final card using the Bright Butterflies stencil I've kept it simple and one layer but managed to get a little bit of texture into it by embossing it.

You have to play around with the layers and the embossing mat, and you may need a shim - I just use an extra piece of scrap paper - to add a bit of extra pressure, but the embossed layer just lifts it that little bit.

I started with an A2 (US) card blank and I embossed on one side of it. Once embossed I kept the stencil on top and using my ink dusters, blended some distress inks over the butterflies and flowers. I used lighter pastel shades like Spun Sugar, Antique Linen, Tumbled Glass and Wilted Violet.

Using my stamp platform, I used the sentiment from a Uniko Thank You set I got as a free gift in a previous order. I stamped each element individually using VersaFine Onyx Black, so I could get them as close as I could to each other.

Thank you so much to Uniko for having me and for their wonderful supplies. They are all available to purchase now in the shop.

I hope you've enjoyed the inspiration. Do pop by again soon! Happy Crafting!

Uniko Guest Design - Surprise Stencil Release - Scattered Polka Hexagons

I'm back today to share my next card for the mini stencil release from Uniko. This one is the Scattered Polka Hexagons and I thought it would go perfectly with my last purchase from them, the Bee Happy set. I've been itching to ink this up and they go very well together.

It's been an age since I made a spinner and the sizes of the stamps just worked out perfectly. I started by inking a piece of yellow card stock using the stencil with some Wild Honey distress ink to get a tone on tone look.

I kept the middle of the card free from ink and using some Versa Mark ink stamped the heart from the stamp set. I then heat embossed with WOW! Gold glitter. I cut out my spinner element from the panel and before I realised it, I crumpled up and threw the cut out piece in the bin! Normally I keep it to place in the space so it looks more uniform and you don't get the white, but it worked out fine without it.

I then stamped the bee on some white card, fussy cut it and started assembling the pieces. I use my giant roll of 3M tape for the backing as I can cut it to size easily. I also use the MFT spin and slide discs which are light and small enough for tiny stamps like this. I glue one onto a circle of white cardstock with multi medium matte as it's strong and dries quickly. I then place it into the aperture and glue the stamp on top. It flows really well around. I have a video on spinner cards over on my You Tube channel.

I stamped the sentiment onto some black cardstock with Versa Mark ink and again embossed with the WOW! gold glitter powder. I added some vellum to the back so it wouldn't look so stark against the yellow.

The stencils are available now in the Uniko shop. Have any caught your eye? Thanks for popping by and Happy Crafting!

Uniko Guest Design - Surprise Stencil Release - Mehndi Mandala - Blog Hop + VIDEO

Hi Everyone, I'm absolutely thrilled to have been asked to Guest Design for Uniko, a lovely UK based company who makes fabulous stamps and stencils. I have quite a few of their stencils already, so to be asked to use more of them, of course it was an instant yes!

This is part of the blog hop to celebrate the release. You can start over at the Uniko blog, and I'll let you know who to hop onto next at the end of my post. This is the first of three cards made using three stencils. I have a video to go with this one showing you how I made 4 cards in 45 minutes using just one stencil.



You can watch the video here or over on my YT channel :)

I took a piece of A4 white card stock and cut it down to 11 inches as I always make my cards 5.5x4.25 (US A2 sized). I then marked out the middle point so I would know where to place the middle of my stencil.

I placed my stencil in the middle and started blending with very gentle ink blending in Spun Sugar. It's quite light, so I built up the layers gradually. I then put the stencil on top and added Picked Raspberry for some contrast. 

I removed the stencil and then cut the panels to size to fit my card blanks. I picked two different pink colours to fit with the pink on the stencil and background. I then attached them with foam tape on top. I'd like to give credit to my friend Lisa Tilson of My Card Trip whose card I saw using the slightly off set mounting of the panel. It gave me the main idea for this set. I thought a few sequins in pink and clear would be a nice addition.

This is such a gorgeous stencil, and I hope this inspires you to try some stencilling. The new release is available now over on the Uniko website and you can carry on in the hop by visiting Beverly Brown, Uniko's esteemed creator.

I'll be back tomorrow with more. Happy Crafting!

How To - Stencils with Funky Fossils Designs Mermaids - VIDEO

Hello! So if you saw my April and May haul video, you'll have seen the gorgeous mermaid stencil that Sarah Gray from Funky Fossil Designs gave me to have a play around with. I decided when I had a couple of hours to spare (no kids in the house!!) I'd have a good old play with hers and some other stencils I had that hadn't seen much love in a while.

I ended up only using the mermaids in the end - once I started I couldn't stop! - and I filmed the process. You can watch this below or over on my YouTube channel. My camera decided to have a bit of a wobbly at points and I lost some of the footage, but I hope you can still get the gist of them. 

I decided to try something different and not do a voice over for this video. My space in the basement is lovely, but I find the boiler and pipe work can be noisy at the worst times and finding a time to be able to do them is hard. I thought I'd edit it without this time. I'd love some feedback on how you find this. 

Here are the projects I finished. I used lots of different techniques from ink blending to texture paste and glitter - yes I used glitter even though I usually hate the stuff. I even used some of my new distress oxides. They really do blend nicely and I suspect I may be saving up for some more :)

1. Coloured texture paste and glitter. 

2. Distress ink and water bleaching

3. Distress ink and texture paste with glitter stencil on top

4. Distress Oxide and splatter

The detail is amazing on the stencil - the swimming mermaid's hair is spectacular - and you can buy this and others in Sarah's Folksy Shop.

I hope you enjoyed today's projects. I really am in the mood for stencils right now, so expect to see some more of them! Thank you so much for stopping by and Happy Crafting :)

Crafty Weekend Makes #1 - Stencil background

Hello! Did everyone have a good Easter break, despite the weather? I hope no one is melting too much with the sudden mini heatwave that has come upon us. Towards the end of the Easter holidays, I took myself off for a mini break at lovely Steph's house where we met up with lovely Lisa and spent a lot of time chatting, eating and crafting. Often at these events, I don't do a lot of crafting, mostly talking, but I surprised myself and I ended up making three cards and even tried out some new techniques. Somehow being in a different environment really helps!

I watched Ale Suta's video where she showed how to do this stencil background technique and it really inspired me to try it myself. I borrowed one of Lisa's stencils and several distress ink colours from Steph I don't have and blended away on a piece of Winsor and Newton Bristol Smooth I'd taken with me. I then cut it out with a stitched rectangle die from Simon Says Stamp.

The stamp is one of my NBUS from Simon Says Stamp which I've just coloured with some Copic markers. 

I just fussy cut the images and adhered it to the background with a bit of foam to add some dimension. I just attached it to a white card blank.

It was so nice to get away and do some crafting and I'm really hoping it will become an annual thing. I shall post cards two and three over the next week. On Sunday I'm off to my Copic 4 class. Time to clean them I think!

Hope you enjoy the sunshine we have for now. Happy Crafting!