Our star!!

Happy Saturday peeps!! Guess what..... we have a star in our midst!!!!

I'm SO excited to tell those of you who haven't seen Nichole's Guest Star Stamper post, that our very own Aimes has won one of this month's categories!! I feel like a proud mum haha!! We all know how incredibly talented and creative she is so it really should come as no surprise... and it's not the first time she's won either!!! So a BIG congrats hun!!!!

This card was made for my lovely blogging buddy Caryn, and also is my very belated sample for our recent embossing challenge (what can I say... I was too busy sunning myself in California lol!)



Recipe:
(All Papertrey Ink)

Stamps - Say It With Style/Green Thumb/Background Basics: Text Style
Card - Ocean Tides
Ink - Versamar/Ocean Tides
Other - Black gingham ribbon/White Embossing powder

I love the effect of the white flowers embossed on the Ocean Tides background, which itself was stamped with the Background Basics: Text Style stamp. That has to be one of my favourite background sets!

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Kate xx

Christmas?!?!

Hey!

Happy Friday Eve! Soooo looking forward to the weekend - even more so now the amazingly talented Andy Murray will be playing in the Australian Open! Woo Hoo! Had to sneak peek the live broadcast of the matches at work when I could via the BBC website and couldn't tear myself away LOL!

Anyways, enough tennis, how about Christmas?! Crazy you say? Well we've been meaning to share the gorgeous Christmas ATCs from our recent swap and now we know everyone has received theirs it's time to show them here!

Check out how fabulous Dawn was organising all of our ATCs! That middle pic is all of our ATCs together waiting to be sorted into the two groups.


Now to see each ATC a bit closer...


Aren't they all just fabulous?! Thanks so much to everyone who participated, I really enjoyed getting my ATCs through the post and I hope you did too!

If you're interested in hosting any swaps (you don't have to restrict it to ATCs...) then feel free to get in touch!

Aimes
x

Challenge: Nature!

Hello hello! It's Kate here - yes I am still alive lol! I'm sorry for having been MIA for a while - I must say a HUGE thank you to dear dear Aimes for keeping our l'il old blog going while I was on holiday - thanks hun, what a star you are!

So it's time for another challenge and this fortnight we're going back to nature - we'd like you to come up with a nature inspired project. So it can be flowers, trees, leaves or anything that says 'nature' to you!

For my sample I used three of my newest PTI goodies - the yummy leaf papers and matching stamp set and Dawn McVey's 'Say it With Style' sentiment set... this is going to be an absolute fave I can tell!


Recipe:
Stamps - Turning a New Leaf/Say it With Style
Card - Stamper's Select White/Spring Moss
Paper - Turning a New Leaf
Ink - Spring Moss/Dark Chocolate
Ribbon/Button - Spring Moss

Over to Aimes: "Hmmm...nature....well I would love to say there' s loads of it around me that I can relate to a PTI stamp set but that would be fibbing. So instead I turned to a stamp set that I hope will inspire nature to get a move on - I'm bored of winter now LOL!

This was created using a masking technique. The white border was simple; I simply used a white gel pen to draw around the nestability I used to cut out the Melon Berry panel.

Melon Berry is just one of those colours I tend to pass on so I really wanted to make it a feature on this card. I'm still not sure if I like it, but the recipient seemed to!"

I also decorated the inside of my card too, I've noticed that seems to be a trend around Blogland at the mo..."






Card Recipe
Stamps: Friends til the End
Ink: Dark Chocolate
Cardstock: Dark Chocolate/Melon Berry/Vintage Cream
Accessories: Cuttlebug/Nestabilities/Cream Vintage Buttons/Vintage Cream Satin Ribbon/Cream Ribbon Twine/White Gel Pen

And here is the fabulous sample from Dawn, this month's Featured Stamper:


Card Recipe Stamps: Everyday Buton Bits/Giga Guidelines Cardstock: Plum Pudding/Sweet Blush/Dark Chocolate DSP: Guidelines Mediums: Old Olive/Lavender Lace (SU)/Versamark Embellishments: Plum Pudding Satin Ribbon/Square Brad/Buttons from Stash Tools: Paper Cutter and Scorer/Snail Adhesive/Nestabilities (Labels 1)

What could you win?

One Sheet of each design of the gorgeous DP - Simple Valentine (6 sheets in total)

2 Sheets of coordinating cardstock in the following colours (6 sheets in total):

One foot (30cm) of ribbon of the following:

Pure Poppy Classic Grosgrain Ribbon

Raspberry Fizz Swiss Dot Satin Ribbon

Fresh Snow Luxe Satin Ribbon

One Raspberry Fizz Cube Ink Cube in the NEW FORMULA which is a total dream to work with. It's a bit like a chalk ink and gives amazing coverage!


Now it's over to you! Here are the challenge deets:

• All entries must contain at least one PTI product to qualify
  
• To enter, leave a link below to your post featuring the project on your blog or online gallery. (We've just started using My Linky - hopefully it will be ok but if there are any problems please leave us a comment! Click on the Mister Linky Pic below to try it out!)
  
• Worldwide entries are more than welcome to share the inspiration, but unfortunately prizes can only be shipped within Europe!
• Challenge closes on Monday 8th February 2010 at 9.00am GMT
• A winner will be chosen at random to receive a collection of PTI goodies!

Have fun!

Kate, Aimes and Dawn xxx

Winner, Winner...

...no chicken dinner! But some PTI goodies heading their way to the winner of our Emboss it challenge. I was so happy to see so many lovely stamping peeps joining in on this challenge and some of you earned some real brownie points with not one method of embossing but TWO featured on your projects! Oh you are a clever lot ;D

Anyways the goodies are heading to...

Here are your random numbers:

12

Timestamp: 2010-01-25 17:56:37 UTC

Which is DANA! Congratulations Dana! Could you please email us your address to apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.com so we can send you your prize!

On another note could Cathy and Linby please email us your addresses too; we've not heard back since you've won some previous challenges!

Stay tuned for a new challenge to be posted very soon...

Aimes

x

Pretty in Pink

Hey!

Happy Friday Eve! Oh I can't wait until the weekend, my fingers have been itching to get inky for ages now I'm back in the chaos of work! At least the snow has thawed now so I've got no scary journeys to work anymore!

Just got a little (or should that be long/tall) card to share with you today full of PTI goodness:


This was for my Mum's birthday. She's a big fan of pink and flowers so I didn't think I could really go too wrong with this creation LOL!

Card Recipe
(PTI Supplies Unless Stated!)
Stamps: Polka Dot Basics II/Around & About Sentiments
Ink: Sweet Blush/Dark Chocolate
Card: Hibiscus Burst/Sweet Blush/Dark Chocolate Bitty Dot Basics
Accessories: Flower/Dark Chocolate Vintage Button/Cream Button Twine

Onto my own little piece of news...I was thrilled to be selected for In The Spotlight for Dawn Mcvey's RSCC#21 with my Potato Optional card! It was wonderful to see some names up there that I recognised from around here including Taheerah! (Our featured stamper for December)

OK I'm signing off but before I do, I wanted to say how fabulous the entries have been for our 'Emboss It' challenge so far! Remember you've got until Monday to enter and if you've already entered once, there's nothing to stop you from entering again ;D

Have a fabulous Friday, peeps, and I'll catch ya later!

Aimes
x

Emboss It!!!

Hey!

OK ready for a new challenge?! I hope so!

For this challenge we want you to emboss it! Don't panic - you don't have to have a heat gun for this challenge! Now you can have fun with y'heat gun if you want, but here's some other tips for embossing:

• Running an embossing folder through your die-cutting machine
• Using a Nestability die
• Using a good old fashioned light box, stencil and ball tool!

So don't think you've gotta get covered in embossing powder and burn yourself; though that's exactly what I did for my example LOL:

Couldn't resist giving my On My Couch set a little more inky love while it was out on my desk!

The Polka Dots are embossed with white detail powder on Pure Poppy cardstock, as is the sentiment too! I love the way the white 'pops'!



Card Recipe
Stamps: Polka Dot Basics II/On My Couch/On My Couch Additions/Vintage Labels
Ink: Versamark/Pure Poppy/Dark Chocolate/Ripe Avocado/Fresh Snow
Card: Enchanted Evening/Pure Poppy/Stamper's Select White
Accessories: Cuttlebug/Nestabilities/White Detail EP/Ripe Avocado Grosgrain Ribbon/White Gel Pen

Now Kate's still sunning herself in L.A (gosh, what a shock she'll have when she gets back to this weather LOL!) but never fear, Dawn is here as our featured stamper! She goes to prove that you don't have to limit yourself to a card with her stunning example:


Check out that clear embossed Giga Guidelines background!


Dawn's gonna be famous for her amazing notepads - I'm lucky to have one in my possession that I carry nearly everywhere but daren't use for fear of spoiling it!


I just love that little hand pointing - it's such a cute finishing touch!

Stamps: Giga Guidelines, Take Note
Cardstock: Dark Chocolate, Berry Sorbet
DSP: Bitty Dots, Everyday Blessings
Mediums: Staz-on, Chocolate Chip (SU), Embossing Stamp pad
Embellishments: Aqua Mist button, Berry Sorbet ½”luxe satin ribbon
Tools - Paper cutter and scorer, Snail adhesive, Heat gun, clear embossing power.

So there ya have it! I hope we've inspired you a tiny bit to think about embossing and to enter our challenge. Remember, there's some PTI goodies to be won!

Here are the deets:

• All entries must contain at least one PTI product to qualify
  
• To enter, leave a comment with a link to your post featuring the project on your blog or online gallery.
  
• Worldwide entries are more than welcome to share the inspiration, but unfortunately prizes can only be shipped within Europe!
• Challenge closes on Monday 25th January 2010 at 9.00am GMT
• A winner will be chosen at random to receive a collection of PTI goodies!

We can't wait to see what you come up with!

Aimes , Dawn (& Kate from sunny L.A!)
xx

1. Laurel (Joining us again from the USA! Whoop!)
2. Karin (Another PTI fan from the USA sharing the inspiration!)
3. Nadine (entering from Hawaii with a her shiny new blog!)
4. Hanneke
5. Ingrid
6. Chris
7. Beverley
8. Jan
9. Vannessa
10. Aga
11. Mandy
12. Dana
13. Valerie
14. Katie
15. Margaret
16 Margaret (with a second fabulous entry!)
17. Hanne
18. Taheerah
19. Amy

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

Hey!

Thanks so much for playing along with our Super Star challenge! It was fabulous to see so many participate this time!

So onto the important part, a winner:

Here are your random numbers:

5 

Timestamp: 2010-01-11 09:04:57 UTC

That's Linby! Congratulations! Please email us at apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.com and we'll send some PTI goodies out to ya!

Stay tuned for a new challenge to be posted later today!

Aimes
x

Inky Couch Love!

Hey!

Happy Friday! So how's your week been? I've not actually made it to work at all this week due to the ice and snow! At first it was fun, but now I'm getting kinda sick of the sight of snow and just spend my days doing housework...

...though I've found some spare minutes to get inky too :D!

So I decided to play along with Dawn McVey's Raspberry Suite Colour Challenge #. Here are those all important colours:


Mmmm scrummy combo of Aqua Mist and Dark Chocolate though I wasn't too sure about that Lemon Tart!

So still on my CAS kick of cards, I was determined to use some more scraps seeing as I spent most of this week organising them into colours (yup, that's how bored I've been!) and I promised myself that I would use that cute diddy cushion stamp and give some inky love to On My Couch:


The pic is a little deceiving as this card is tiny! It's only 2.5" x 4.25" and again was made from scraps. This idea originated from Betsy Veldman's take on the Scraptastic challenge; she went even further and created the cutest envies for them too by simply cutting an A2 envie in half and stitching up the sides.

I couldn't resist...
I have to say that I ♥ these sweet cards! So cute for secretly popping into a loved one's lunchbox, or glovebox or any other box LOL! Speaking of ♥, I'm totally loving the new PTI ink formulation too - check out the coverage on the Aqua Mist couch *sigh*!

Card Recipe
Stamps: On My Couch/On My Couch Additions
Ink: Aqua Mist/Dark Chocolate
Card: Vintage Cream/Lemon Tart
Others: Envelope and Sewing Machine!

Oh and have you checked out the sneak peeks for PTI's upcoming release!? Today's sneak peek has me the most excited - defintely raised my heartbeat a little (pun intended!)

Ooh and just one more thing before I love ya and leave ya for the weekend, has everyone received their Christmas ATCs?! If not pop us an email at apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.com because I really, really, really wanna share the pics of them all but don't want to spoil it if you've not got 'em yet!

Have a fabulous weekend people! Stay safe in the snow and ice (if you've got it!)

Aimes
x

Scrap-tastic!

Hey!

If you ever pop across to any of the Senior DT for PTI you'll know that on the first of every month Nichole Heady sets them a challenge. Well this month she's challenged not only the Senior DT, but anyone else too! I couldn't resist joining in as the challenge is 'Scrap-tastic!' In other words, to use all those scraps, ribbon, paper, fabric etc....

Well I confess that I keep a HUGE bag of scraps, especially my PTI cardstock! I always justify keeping the littlest snippets by saying I'll use them with the tiny cushion stamp from my On My Couch Set LOL! I need to give that set more love, but I already had a different idea in my head for today:
Not a couch cushion in sight! I know it's VERY Clean and Simple! It took literally minutes to make; the longest part was heating the clear EP LOL!

Card Recipe
Stamps: Polka Dot Basics II/Friends til the End (sentiment)
Card: Stamper's Select White/Aqua Mist/Raspberry Fizz/Spring Rain
Ink: Versamark/True Black
Accessories: Cuttlebug/Nestabilities/Clear EP

So why not get rooting through your own scraps and join in the fun? You can link your creation directly on Nicole's blog here!

Aimes
x

Featured Stamper!

Hey!

Firstly:

Happy New Year!

I hope 2010 brings you peace, happiness and joy! All it's brought me so far is a hazy head from a few Singapore Slings too many (Man, I just ♥ that cocktail!) but I'm sure 2010 is gonna bring me more LOL!

So a new year, a new month, a new featured stamper for us - woo hoo! Thanks so much to Taheerah for being our fabulous first featured stamper! We loved your creations - my fave has to be the use of the Tea For Two set - what an amazing set of cards that so much work and heart went into making!

So who's January's Featured Stamper? Drumroll please....

Dawn!

We asked Dawn a few questions to get to know her a little better, though we already know she's lovely as we met in person at the PTI make and take ;D!

1)How did you get into papercrafting?

I don't remember! I've always been papercrafting in one way or another, I remember winning a drawing competition when I was about 5 or 6 at school and I've always made cards for my parents and other family members for birthdays and christmas, I guess its just grown from there ....

2)How long have you been stamping for?

I've only been stamping for a few years, I discovered Stampin Up first (am I allowed to say that?) and quickly became hooked, but then I found PTI .... and its taken over .... my bank balance

3)How did you get into PTI and why do you love it so much?

I don't know how I discovered PTI, I think I was blog hopping and came across either Nichole Heady's or Dawn McVey's blogs. I resisted for a couple of months but the pull was too great. I love the colour combinations and the way that the papers, ribbons and buttons match. I also the new stamps (and a new colour) every month - its fab, its like a birthday surprise EVERY MONTH!

4)What would you say is your stamping style?

Eclectic! I don't know, sometimes it depends on how much time I have! I love CAS (Clean and Simple) but at other times I love - to pile it all on, bows, brads, lots of layers ....

5)Do you have a favourite PTI colour or colour combo that just makes you drool?

Oooooh ..........colours...........my favourites are chocolate, raspberry fizz AND KRAFT who can live without KRAFT ?????

6)If you had to choose just one PTI stamp set to keep, which one would it be and why?

I don't have many sets, although I aim to remedy that in 2010! My favourites from 2009 that I actually own are the button bits sets, they are so versatile. Of the sets I don't own and I wish I'd bought,(and I probably will on my next order) because I think I'd use it a lot 'Turning a New Leaf' .... There are so many more that I wish I owned ...

7)Who is your PTI Idol?

I HAVE TO CHOOSE! ..... Nichole Heady, Dawn McVey, Heather Nichols, Michelle Wooderson, Lisa Johnson ... HOW DO YOU CHOOSE .... I love them all????

8)Where do you get your inspiration from?

Everywhere........ Mainly the WWW, The PTI forum and Splitcoaststampers, I just look up PTI there are some fantastic cards and projects on there, but I find myself making notes everywhere, even at the supermarket, or staring out the window during a meeting - yes I remember setting a colour challenge that way, I could see a unit across the way with red, yellow, grey, and black in their logo!!

9)What’s your stamping dream?

It was to be on a design team but I'm there now as of December 2009, so I guess the next one is to be published so I'd better send some cards in to some of the magazines ....

10)Where can we go to check out more of your wonderful creations?

my blog, http://auroradawn-ad.blogspot.com or my web page, http://www.auroracraft.co.uk

Thanks so much Dawn for being our January Featured Stamper! Here's a couple of Dawn's creations that really caught our eye though I really recommend that you pop across to Dawn's blog for a good nosy:


I love, love, LOVE this notepad design! You can totally see the inspiration Dawn gets from Lisa Johnson (whose style I adore!) with the classy colour combo and added touch of bling!


Dawn totally rocks at the 3D items with this super cute Tucked Away template! I love the idea of using acetate - giving the recipient a sneaky peek at what's inside!

Look out for more from Dawn in our challenges this month and her two dedicated blog posts here on the PTI blog!

Aimes (& Kate from L.A!)
xx