Background Basics...

Ahhh! Christmas: the presents have been unwrapped, the turkey has been cooked (and a month's worth remains in the fridge), and I've still got numb fingers from building lots of Lego toys with my nieces a nephews! Love it! I hope you've all had a happy Holiday
too!

Apologies for this challenge being posted later than usual: straight after Christmas I had a birthday to celebrate and a very snowy wedding to attend! I'm still recovering from the drinking, eating, celebrating and socialising (not necessarily in that order) that I can't believe I've even managed to get my head around posting this challenge!

We know it's still a super busy time of year so our challenge is pretty simple to join along with if you're lucky enough to find a few spare, inky moments *wink* For this fortnight's challenge we'd like to see how you use your background stamp sets on your projects. Don't own a background set? Then get creative and make your own if you fancy it!

My example is actually the card I gave to my mum for her Birthday (celebrated on Boxing Day so it's present galore all over again for us!)

Card Deets
{happy biRthDay}
Stamps: Birthday Bash Sentiments, Polka Dot Basics II
Ink: Spring Rain (Papertrey Ink)/London Fog (Memento)
Cardstock: White and Pink Shimmer Cardstock (Papetrey Ink)
Accessories: Fresh Snow Satin Ribbon (Papertrey Ink)/Chompy (Corner Rounder)/Ribbon (Scraps!)/Clear Gem (Hero Arts)

I do think Polka Dot Basics II is my most favourite background stamp set ever (don't tell my other sets that though!) nothing like a few polka dots to add an element of fun to a project!

Over to Kate:

"A very Happy Christmas to you all! I hope everyone has had a happy and peaceful few days, and now the festivities have quietened down a bit maybe you're even finding time to sneak into your craft room! My samples for this challenge are some Christmas cards I made a few weeks ago - I went for a slightly unusual Christmas colour (Hawai'in Shores) then like the card (and the speed with which it came together!) that I made a few more in other PTI colours:

Hawai'in Shores:


Ocean Tides:


Enchanted Evening:


Raspberry Fizz:


Recipe:

Stamps: Peaceful Poinsettia (background stamp)/2010 Holiday Tags
Ink: Fresh Snow/Versafine Black
Other: Adhesive Gems/Mat Stack 3 Die/White Grosgrain Ribbon

Over to Caryn:

"Hi there folks and a happy holiday season to you all. We have had another fantastic Christmas in our house and once again everyone is feeling very happy and a bit spoiled - me included! My card sample this week is, I'm sorry to say, ANOTHER Christmas card!! I know, probably the last thing you all want to see now but all I've made recently are Christmas cards, I can't think about anything else at this time of year. This card features the Big and Bold Holiday Wishes and Background Basics: Christmas sets. I love that little peppermint background stamp! Now I promise my next challenge card won't be a Christmas card - although I fully intend to make them throughout the year so there's no panicking at the end as usual!!"


And as our featured stamper for December, here's Aga:

"I love stamping custom backgrounds. It's a quick and easy way to create your own patterned paper and it gives you an almost endless possibility to create something unique!

Here are my samples of background stamping: two cards I made using one stamp from Guide Lines set. The sentiment comes from Blooming Button Bits set. Both are super quick and easy to make!"



So what else could tempt you to play along with us this fortnight? Well how about a sweet little stamp set:
Yup, one randomly selected European peep could be the owner of this new Signature Series: Cupcake mini stamp set!

Ready to play along? I hope so! Here's the deets:
* All entries must contain at least one PTI product to qualify (please state what is PTI as sometimes for us it's hard to tell :D)

* To enter, use our inlinkz thingy at the bottom of this post (be aware that we've got a text based linky thing and not a piccy one at the moment!). Please leave the correct URL for your entry post and not just your generic blog address! If you're having problems then just 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 and can be in with a chance of being a Top 3 PTI Passionista, but unfortunately prizes can only be shipped within Europe!

* Challenge closes on Monday, January 10th 2011 at 9.00am GMT

* As well as a randomly picked winner, we'll select the top three creations we like the most and feature them on the Blog. The top three PTI Passionistas will have chance to display a Top 3 Passionista Blinkie on their own blog.

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

Aimes, Kate, Caryn & Aga
xxxx