Birthday Wishes....

Hey!

Hope y'all had a fabby Bank Holiday (for those of us in the UK!) I can't believe we actually had sunshine here in Sheffield LOL!

Just poppin' in today with a super simple card that probably took longer to make than you could possibly imagine:


The reason it took so long was not only the fiddly cutting of those leaves, but because I decided to try to make my own flower embellishment! If I do this again, I'll definitely be wearing plastic gloves - yup, that ink tends to really stain your fingers LOL! However, on the plus side these flowers are pretty easy to make: simply die cut a few from white cardstock, cover in ink (or spritz with glimmer mist!), scrunch up, let them dry a little, then layer them! Voila! Pretty flower!

Aimes
x

Card Deets
{Birthday Wishes}
Stamps: Papertrey Ink - Turning a New Leaf, Text Style, Round & Round
Ink: Versamark/Papertrey Ink - Spring Moss, Spring Rain/Memento Brown/Ranger Alcohol Ink
Cardstock: DCWV Blue/White from Stash/
Accessories: Cuttlebug/Cuttlebug Flower Die/Nestabilities/Clear Embossing Powder/Chalks/PTI Button

Peaceful Poinsettias

Here's a project by our featured stamper for August, Cayrn!

A Christmas project to share with you today using Peaceful Poinsettias.

I made a little box (created with a Sizzix BIGZ XL die) and used the little window cut out as the main focal point of the matching card. I stamped and embossed (white filigree embossing powder) the Seasons Greetings and three little flowers into some pure poppy card and placed it under the aperture on the box. I then finished it off with a punched border and some red gingham ribbon.

The card has the same image stamped onto the "waste" from the box in Pure Poppy and again finished it all off with red gingham ribbon.

I am so getting that festive feeling already and it's only August!

Caryn
xx

Challenge: Polka Dots!

Hello and welcome to another challenge here on A Passion for Papertrey! Today we have a special treat for you thanks to the generosity of the lovely Beverley who has so very sweetly donated a very special Papertrey Ink stamp set for us to offer as a prize. Do you recognise this set..:



.... if you don't it is the 2010 'Round and Round' PTI Anniversary set, which cannot be bought and is the prize for this fortnight's challenge! Thank you so much Beverley!

And there are two good reasons for us to be offering this fabulous prize this week - the first is that Aimes and I are celebrating our first anniversary lol!!! It's a year ago that Aimes joined A Passion for Papertrey, and I couldn't ask for a more fabulous friend to be my partner in crime on the blog!

The second reason is to say thank you to all our wonderful readers and supporters - we are always overwhelmed with the response to our challenges and our posts. Thank you all for your support, and for sharing our passion for all things Papertrey!

So onto the challenge!! This time we're going all dotty, and asking you to make a card or other papercrafting project that features polka dots... because we all love cute polka dots don't we?! You could use your polka dot stamps, papers, ribbons, or if you don't have any of those, come up with an original idea for incorporating them into your project!

I have to say I used a few dotty PTI products on my sample!....polka dot stamps, ribbon and papers!


Recipe:
Stamps" Baby Button Bits/Polka Dot Basics
Card: Stamper's Select White/Pure Poppy/Aqua Mist
Paper: Bitty Dot Basics
Ink: Aqua Mist
Other: Copic Sketch Markers/Pure Poppy button/Pure Poppy Swiss Dots ribbon/Rik Rak die/Circle Nestabilities

Over to Aimes:
"OK, so I know you're probably expecting me to break out my Polka Dots II set for this challenge, or maybe to use that sweet polka dot chair/couch from On My Couch but I wanted to incorporate polka dots a little less predictably for me this time..."

Card Deets
{Happy Anniversary}
Stamps: Daily Designs/Round & Round Ink: Pure poppy Cardstock: Stamper's Select White/Kraft Paper: Beautiful Blooms DP Accessories: Fresh Snow Twill Ribbon/Martha Stewart Border Punch/Corner Rounder/White Gel Pen

And here's Caryn as our featured stamper for August, goin' a little Polka Dot Crazy on this little number:

"I have used a Kraft card base and then layered up the panel with Rustic Cream card (embossed with Swiss Dots cuttlebug folder), Kraft coloured paper from Dotty Biscotti and then the top layer is a piece of Spring Moss card. Everything has been roughed up a bit with my new toy - my SU distresser thingy and then I've run the PTI distress ink (the lighter one!) around the edge of it all. The butterflies (Butterfly Dreams) and sentiment (from Everyday Classics) have been stamped in Raspberry Fizz and then it's all finished off with a bit of Raspberry Fizz twill.

Here are all the deets:

All entries must contain at least one PTI product to qualify

* To enter, use our inlinkz thingy at the bottom of this post. 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, Sept 6th 2010 at 9.00am GMT

* A winner will be chosen at random to receive some PTI goodies! In addition to this, 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 with - have fun!

Kate, Aimes and Caryn xxx

A Winner!

Hey!

Happy Monday! Time to pick a winner from our Long and Tall challenge.....

Here are your random integers, generated with replacement:

 1

Timestamp: 2010-08-23 08:52:29 UTC

Which means that Karen Murray is our winner! Congrats Karen! Please email us your snail mail addy to apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.co.uk and we'll get those DPs and that ribbon out to ya!

Now for our Top 3 PTI Passionistas...well once again we were overwhelmed with not only the amount of entries we received for our challenge, but the way you all totally mastered the long and tall card size! I know that I'm keeping your entries for reference for when I try my hand at the long/tall cards again!

So after much discussion this morning we finally agreed on the following to be the Top 3 PTI Passionistas for this past challenge:



Margaret C - we think Margaret achieved a record with the amount of entries she had to this challenge LOL! She was on a long/tall card kick and this card in particular caught our eye. We love not only the emboss resist technique she used but also the angles at which she attached the three strips of home-stamped DP which adds so much to the fun nature of the card!

Dana - what a beautiful result of using up your DP scraps! This card made us both want to root through our own DP scraps and paper punch away to our hearts content - such a fabulous, graphic design!

Anja - we both loved Anja's clean and simple design! That stamped image totally flatters a long/tall card and the torn paper adds a sweet interesting focal point to the card. Just think, this card design could work with many different colours!

Congrats ladies! If you would like the Top 3 PTI Passionista Blinkie to blink with pride on your own blogs then email us at apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.co.uk and we'll email you the code!

I hope you can all stay tuned for our new challenge soon....

Aimes & Kate
xx

Twilight Bloom

Here's a project by our featured stamper for August, Cayrn!

This card is made using one of my favourite "go to when I fancy being artistic" sets, In Bloom. I get so much therapy from colouring in these flowers. This time I have used my Aqua ProMarkers - LOVE them, so easy to blend and shade. I've used Twilight Blue (like the name girls?) and with a little Aquamarine blended in here and there too.


Of course it wouldn't be me if I didn't put bling on it so I went round the petals with my quickie glue pen and prisma glitter. The background layer on the card has been stamped in Enchanted Evening and Aqua Mist using Fancy Flourishes (another favourite) and I have also used Vintage labels on the mount too. Once I added it all on the card there wasn't any room for a sentiment so this is a "whatever occasion" type card!

Caryn
xx

Faithful Stars!

Happy Tuesday!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! We, (my guy and me) went to visit his family to celebrate two birthdays - both were guy birthdays and although I had one card in my stash that I considered suitable for a teenager, I had to start from scratch to make a card for his Dad!!!

I find Dads so hard to create for, on the one hand I know they won't be rude and criticise anything I make for them, they'll be appreciative whatever I make for them! But I always want them to really 'like' the card I make for them - KWIM?

So I sat for a while just thinking, then sighed in defeat as I just grabbed my Star Prints set and got busy:
I always grab this set for guy cards, it's almost a defeatist option for me! I think I need another guy stamp set seeing as the females in my family are pretty outnumbered by the guys.

Now the card I've made is kinda simple and I think it's the only guy card I've made which features a bow on it but I hope it's not too girly!

Thanks for stopping by - you know there's still plenty of time to enter our current challenge if you're not doing anything this week *wink*

Aimes
x

Card Deets
{It's Your Day}
Stamps: PTI - Star Prints/Practicing Creativity Designs - For the Love of Dots
Ink: PTI - Spring Rain,Spring Moss/Versamark/Distress Ink - Antique Linen
Cardstock: PTI - Vintage Cream, Kraft
Paper: PTI - Spring Moss Bitty Box Basics
Accessories: PTI -Jute Ribbon Twine/Cuttlebug/Nestabilities /Corner Rounder

Enjoy Life - Enjoy the weekend!

Happy Friday!!!

Just poppin' in with a card that features some PTI goodness:


Card Recipe
Stamps: Papertrey Ink Star Prints
Ink: Memento Black
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink True Black/Stamper's Select White/DCWV Brights Collection
Accesories: Papertrey Ink Hibiscus Burst Grosgrain Ribbon/Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch and Stamps/Cuttlebug/Nestabilities/Papertrey Ink Impression Plate/White Gel Pen/Shimmer Chalks/Hero Arts gem/

I finally got my impression plate to kinda work with my cuttlebug! It took some experimenting and some near misses but I'm kinda happy with the depth of impression. I hear if you mist water on your cardstock before you run it through the machine it leaves an even deeper impression - might try that one out when I'm not as impatient for results LOL!

Have a fabby weekend!!! There's plenty of time to enter our current challenge y'know *wink* Those of you who have entered already are great at long/tall cards! I thought this would be a toughie for ya!

Aimes
x

Challenge: Long & Tall

Hey!

Time for a new challenge methinks! So after totally conquering our last challenge, are you ready for something a little different? I hope so!

For this fortnight's challenge we want to see your own takes on Long and Tall cards. I know myself I tend to get stuck in a pattern of making 4.25"x5.5" cards so like to break out every now and again and challenge myself to a different shape.

Here's my example:

OK I know this looks like a pretty uneventful card - I mean that chair is hardly inviting enough to make anyone feel better....hmmm.....I wonder if I could change that chair somehow....Oh c'mon you know me, I like a lil' bit of magic every now and again.....just pull up that terracotta ribbon....
....a bit more....

Ta-dah!!!!

Card Recipe

Stamps: On My Couch/On My Couch Additions/Polka Dot Basics II
Ink: Terracotta Tile/Versamark/Stazon Black
Cardstock: Smokey Shadow/Terracotta Tile/Ripe Avocado
Accessories: Acetate/Ripe Avocado Grosgrain Ribbon/ Fiskars Border Punch/Corner Rounder/Nesties/Fresh Snow Twill/Brads

Oh this card made my guy really smile so know it's gotta be suitable for giving to my Dad to cheer up his recovery after his stressful weeks in hospital.

Over to Kate:
"When I was looking through my PTI stamps for a good set to make a tall card with, I came across my little-used 'Take Three Spring' set and thought the three leaf images would be perfect for a bright and summery birthday card."


Recipe:
Stamps: Take Three - Spring
Card: Stamper's Select White/Raspberry Fizz
Ink: Colorbox chalk/Versamagic/Versafine Black
Other: Corner Chomper/Swiss Dots Cuttlebug Embossing folder

And as our featured stamper for this month, here's Caryn's fabulous take on the challenge:
"I'm normally very square so this was a real challenge for me!! I used rustic cream for the base (half sheet of card folded in half lengthways), then with a mount of Pure Poppy layered with the spotty paper from the Rustic Snowflakes paper collection. I stamped the outline image of the large flower from Peaceful Poinsettias twice onto cream card and coloured them with ProMarkers (Berry Red and Ruby). The centres have been glittered with black fine glitter. The sentiment has been stamped and mounted on Rustic Cream and Pure Poppy and then the card has been finished with True Black twill ribbon."

Have we convinced you to join in our challenge yet? I hope so, but just in case you need some more persuading, if you live within Europe you could be the lucky winner of this:

A sheet of each design of PTI's Dotty Biscotti (6 sheets in total) plus a whole reel of Plum Pudding grosgrain ribbon!

OK so here are the deets:
* All entries must contain at least one PTI product to qualify

* To enter, use our inlinkz thingy at the bottom of this post. 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, August 23rd 2010 at 9.00am GMT

* A winner will be chosen at random to receive some PTI goodies! In addition to this, 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.

Have fun with this challenge - we can't wait to see what long and tall creations you come up with!

Aimes, Kate and Caryn
xxx

A Winner!

Happy Monday, Peeps!!! It's time to announce the lucky winner of our Forever Friends challenge; thanks so much to all that played along! I think we had a record number of entries this time - woo hoo!!!!

Anyways, the lucky recipient of the sweet lil' stamp set Fly Away is.....

...drumroll, please.....

Here are your random numbers:

29 

Timestamp: 2010-08-09 13:01:43 UTC

Number 29 which means Isha, you've just won this stamp set! Congrats! If you could send us your postal address to apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.co.uk, we'll get that set out to ya!

And now for our Top 3 PTI Passionistas: well you certainly made it a toughie not only with the huge amount of entries, but also with the huge difference in styles you conquered with our friendship theme! We finally narrowed it down to the following:

Julie - Oh we both adore Julie's clean and graphic design and this card is of no exception! So clever to layer the circular sentiment panel on top of not another circle, but an oval to create a really interesting focal point!

Carol - What an amazing use for the negative of Rickrack border die! Carol created a whole scene of a Welsh Dresser with sweet tea cups hanging from it! We also love the way she stamped her sentiment over the 'YOU' image!

Cindy - We both fell in love with Cindy's design; the way she used the spoon from Tea for Two Additions to create a quirky, interesting background was fabulous!

Congrats ladies - if you would like a Top 3 Passionista Blinkie to blink with pride on your blogs then send us an email at apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.co.uk and we'll email you the code!

Thank you so much to all that played along with us - we really appreciate your support! Stay tuned for our new challenge very soon...

Aimes & Kate

xx

August Featured Stamper!

Hi Peeps! Can you believe it's August already?! After a month off we're back with a brand new Featured Stamper, and we're so thrilled to introduce you to a dear friend of ours who will be joining us on the blog for the month:

Please welcome Caryn Davies:



In recent months Caryn has become a self-confessed Papertrey Addict, and her blog Glitter Me Silly is packed to the brim with inspiring projects.. let's get to know her a bit better shall we?!

1)How did you get into papercrafting?
I started making cards when I was pregnant with my 4th baby, Sophie. A friend of mine had been to a card-making class at a local craft shop and was showing us her creations one evening. I loved the idea of it so next time she was doing a class I tagged along. It was a mixture of stamping, die-cutting and punching so a bit of everything really. From the first class I was totally hooked and booked for another 10 different classes there and then! That was six years ago and I have been papercrafting ever since, mostly card-making but dabbling in scrapbooking along the way too.

2)How long have you been stamping for?
I have been stamping from the very first class I did 6 years ago. I have tried all kinds of different styles and forms of papercraft but stamping is something I've stuck with all along. I am totally in love with acrylic stamps and have no idea how to use wooden ones any more!! Why do they still make them???

3)How did you get into PTI and why do you love it so much?
I was totally unaware of PTI until about 18 months ago. I discovered Steph's blog (Stamping and Sharing) first of all and kept seeing these amazing stamps and papers and ribbons (oh my) and LOVED the whole co-ordination thing. Thanks to Steph's generous nature and immense trust in letting me borrow some of her stamp sets to "try before I buy", I then made my first purchase. My first set was "Signiature Christmas" but I have added to my collection somewhat over the last 6 months. I think I have about 25 sets now. The thing I love so much about Papertrey Ink is the versatility of the stamps - the way you can combine images and sentiments from all the sets to give endless amounts of different looks. I also adore the colour pallette - just looking at my button collection all laid out before me is enough to make me squeak with joy!

4)What would you say is your stamping style?
If you asked me that a week ago I would have said, eclectic. If you'd asked me a month ago I'd have said CAS. Ask me tommorrow and it'll be a different answer again. I don't think I really have a set style as I am a typical Saggitarius and can never make my mind up about anything - hence I flit from one style to another! I am very motivated by what I see around the blogs - I am an habitual caser of other people's ideas!!

5)Do you have a favourite PTI colour or colour combo that just makes you drool?
This is another question with more than one answer!! At the moment I love seeing Hawaiian Shores next to Terracotta. BUT, my ultimate favourite colour combo is Raspberry Fizz with Aqua Mist ALTHOUGH I also love the three blues, Ocean Tides, Hawaiian Shores and Aqua Mist together. See, I told you I couldn't make a decision if my life depended on it!!

6)If you had to choose just one PTI stamp set to keep, which one would it be and why?
As a serial mind-changer this is impossible to answer. At this exact moment in time I'm going to say Butterfly Dreams. I just LOVE it. It was the first set I got with a matching die and I am really enjoying making loads of butterlies but not having to cut them all out!! (I love the Enjoy the Ride set with matching die for the same reason).

7)Who is your PTI Idol?
Of all the PTI designers I have to say I love the fresh style of Maile Belles. Her designs are so clean and her use of colour is such an inspiration. Am I allowed more than one?? I also love Betsy Veldman and every time the countdown to the new release starts, hers and Maile's are the first blogs I go to.

8)Where do you get your inspiration from?
ALL of my inspiration comes from visiting other blogs and the occasional CARDS magazine (if I can find one). There is such a wealth of amazing talent out there and sometimes I click on a blog and it stops me in my tracks. I love scrolling through the gallery on the PTI forum too.

9)What’s your stamping dream?
To go to CHA with an unlimited amount of cash in my pocket and an empty suitcase!

10)Where can we go to check out more of your wonderful creations?
My blog is called Glitter Me Silly and if you want to visit me it's HERE.

Look out for Caryn's work here on A Passion for Papertrey over the next few weeks!

Kate and Aimes xx

Finally - A Bow Tutorial!

Happy Friday!!!! Typical that these weeks start to zoom by so fast when I'm on my summer holidays from work *sigh*!

Just poppin' a quick post today to let you know that I've finally done something I thought I'd never get around to doing; I've created a little video tutorial to show you how I create individual bows for my projects. Some of you had requested if I could show you how I do some of my bows so here it is! HUGE credit goes to my very own mum for suggesting this technique btw!
(FYI if I'm tying my ribbon around a project I always refer to the tutorial produced by Dawn McVey, here)

Now before you laugh, this was filmed at night whilst Chris was out (I just couldn't do this in front of him without cracking up!) and with my bog-standard digital camera, nothing fancy! But I hope you like it anyways and you too don't feel fear rising when wanting to make a bow for a future project!

Enjoy!



If you can't see the video, trying clicking here

Now I had to put that bow to good use didn't I?Oh and now I can line them all up *happy sigh* I hope I'm allowed to like my own cards because these make my heart skip a beat ;D

Have a super weekend! If you're not busy, you know there's plenty of time to enter our current challenge to win a mini-stamp set. Don't do what I do and leave it all to the last minute LOL!

Aimes
x

Challenge - Forever Friends

So it's time to set another challenge here on A Passion for Papertrey - it comes round quickly doesn't it?!

Before we get to the challenge I wanted to share a photo with you. It's not often that Aimes and I get to meet up in person, but this past weekend was one such occasion! We met up with our blogging buddies (and fellow PTI fans!) Steph and Caryn for a girlie weekend - shopping, cocktails, and Eclipse.... such a fun weekend!

So here we are, the two Passion for Papertrey gals, in matching outfits no less!! (We were trying the same top on!)



With our weekend in mind, we thought we'd ask you to think about your special friends and make a card for one of them. There is something so special about receiving a card from a friend for no other reason than they are thinking of you! So our challenge is to create a friendship card, using at least one Papertrey Ink product.
For mine I used the super adorable Enjoy the Ride set, and matching die. I paper pieced part of the cars (very flower power don't you think!) with the gorgeous Beautiful Blooms papers, and coloured the rest with Copics. I'm in love with these cars!!


Recipe:

Stamps: Enjoy the Ride, Friends til the End
Ink: Memento black
Card: Stamper's Select White/Hawaiin Shores/Pure PoppyPapers: Beautiful Blooms
Other: Enjoy the Ride die/Rik Rack die/Copic Sketch markers


Over to Aimes:
"Seemed kinda fitting to have a friendship theme for our challenge this fortnight seeing as Kate and I had spent a fabulous girlie weekend together along with our other fabulous crafty friends, Caryn and Steph! For my sample, I decided to get comfy with my On My Couch set and On My Couch Additions. I just luuuuuurve those sets to play with; in fact I had so much fun that I made not one card, but two!Before you think I have some XL size stamps, these cards are a sweet lil' 2.5 x 4.25 inches big! I went for a subtle chair this time, stamped with Versamark which allowed me to stamp my sentiment over the top. The sentiment was orginally a long line of text but I just inked up each word at a time to create the lines of text.

I love these little cards - you use way less supplies on 'em with the added bonus that if you chop a PTI envie in half and stitch/glue the open sides together you'll create an envie for each card outta just the one envie! Just gotta love that!"

Once again our randomly drawn winner will receive this fabulous stamp set, Fly Away:




Are you ready to play along?! Here's the deets:

* All entries must contain at least one PTI product to qualify

* To enter, use our inlinkz thingy at the bottom of this post. 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, August 9th 2010 at 9.00am GMT

* A winner will be chosen at random to receive some PTI goodies! In addition to this, 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.

Have fun!!

Kate & Aimes xx

A winner!

Happy Monday!!!

This Monday means we get to start a new challenge here on the blog, but not before announcing the winner of our last challenge!! Thank you so much to all who entered our last challenge - we were so happy to see so many of you play along with us! So who will be winning that sweet little stamp set, Fly Away? We won't keep you in suspense any longer:

Here are your random numbers:

24

Timestamp: 2010-07-26 10:21:39 UTC

Ann!

Congratulations, Ann! If you could send us your postal addy to apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.co.uk and we'll get that sweet lil' stamp set out to you asap!

Now for our Top 3 PTI Passionistas. Well it was kinda cool that we were both together in person, drooling over playing on the new iPads in the apple store at the weekend to discuss the entries! It was a real toughie with so many fabulous entries but without further ado, we decided on the following:

Katie - We both loved Katie's bold and graphic design on her card. That die cut really takes the centre stage on this creation, contrasting against the bold, gorgeous, raspberry fizz panel. Simply super!

Mandy - How can you not resist such warm homely colours, along with a comfy chair and fabulous pun to go with it?! We agreed that this card was so sweet along with a fabulous layout and a great use of DPs!

Rosanne - This whimsical design made our heart's really skip a beat! We loved the the fun use of DPs for different elements of the card and the non-traditional kraft coloured clouds really add to the fun, whimsical theme!

Congrats ladies! If you would like a blinkie to blink with pride on your blog, email us at apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.co.uk and we'll email the code right back to ya!

Thanks so much to everyone who participated in the challenge - we really appreciate your enthusiasm and support! I hope you can all play along with our next challenge which we'll be introducing very soon!

Aimes & Kate
xx

Birthday cupcake

Happy Friday everyone! Apologies for my absence from the blog but life has just got in the way recently - thank you Aimes for holding the fort while I've been away!!

I've just got back from staying with friends in London - it was my best friend's birthday and as she has her own cake-making business I thought the fab cuppie from Baby Button Bits would suit the occasion (plus I got to indulge my love of Hawai'in Shores!)

This is the first time I've cut into my Beautiful Blooms papers - aren't they delicious?!



Recipe: (all PTI unless stated)
Stamps: Bitty Baby Blessings/Vintage Picnic (sentiment)
Ink: Memento black
Card: Stamper's Select White/Pure Poppy/Hawai'in Shores
Paper: Beautiful Blooms
Other: Copic Sketch Markers/ Circle Nestabilities/Hawaiin Shores ribbon & button

I'll be back in the next few days with my card for our current challenge (better late than never right?!)

Hugs, Kate xx

A little 'Die' crazy!

Happy Wednesday! Half-way to the weekend and it can't come soon enough! These last two weeks of term are seriously dragging by for me; I'm ready to break up, the students are ready to break up and I even think my stamps are ready for me to break up; I'm sure I can hear them calling me to go play with them. Either that, or the stresses of work are sending me crazy LOL!

So as promised, I've found time to take a pic of the second card I created for our current challenge. I'll warn you, it's a completely different style of card from my first card and it's gone a little 'die' crazy:

Card Recipe
Stamps: Background Basics: Text Style/Turning a New Leaf/Butterfly Dreams
Ink: Momento London Fog/Spring Moss/Versamark
Card: Hawaiian Shores/Stamper's Select White/Plum Pudding/Grey (from stash!)
Accessories: Simply Chartreuse Felt/Purple Felt/Medium Scallop Die/Butterfly Die/Nestabilities/Cuttlebug/Detail White EP/Glitter/Rustic Twine/Hawaiian Shores Vintage Button

Y'see I wasn't lying; this card features a total of three different dies, two of them being PTI ones! Just goes to show that you can enter our challenge no-matter what style of cardmaker you are *wink*

I'm going to be honest and say that I'm still not 100% about whether I like this card or not...but still, it's bright and summery and that's more than can be said for the miserable weather outside my window at the moment. Rain and thunderstorms...it's starting to look more like the typical British summer by the minute!

Aimes
x

Challenge: To 'Die' for!

Ready for a new challenge? I thought so!

Don't be confused by the title of our new challenge; it's just me being a fan of a cheesy play on words! For our latest challenge we want to see creations that feature the use of Dies. So many of us now own die-cutting machines, and it seems that so many companies (including Papertrey Ink) have released their own dies to co-ordinate with stamp sets, (and in some cases stamp sets that co-ordinate with dies from other companies) that it seemed appropriate to set a challenge based on 'em!

Now don't feel that you've gotta use a PTI die on your creation - remember that your creation only needs to use a single PTI product to qualify for entry to our challenge! Oh and you're not limited to cards either ;D

Now it's my turn to host alone this fortnight for now as my partner in PTI crime, Kate is kinda busy! If she finds time, I'm sure she'll provide a fabulous creation later. Seems like July is a rather busy month for both of us!

Anyways here's my example for the challenge:

Card Recipe
Stamps: Star Prints/Background Basics: Text Style/Fancy Flourishes/Daily Design Sentiments/Vintage Labels
Ink: Dark Chocolate/Versamark
Card: Vintage Cream/Kraft/New Leaf
Accessories: New Leaf Twill Ribbon/Clear EP/Cuttlebug/Nestabilities

This card was made for my very own honey's birthday last Friday, hence the super simple design! And as you can see I used a load of stamps sets on what seems like a very CAS card, along with my Nestabilites rather than a PTI die. I do however have another example to share with y'all later this week that features many PTI dies on one card - stay tuned for that when I find time to photograph it LOL!

Here's Kate: " I'm really leaning towards vibrant summer colours this week - no doubt an antidote to the pouring rain! I used my On my Couch set and matching die for the cute polka dot chair":



Recipe:
Stamps: On my Couch
Card: Stamper's Select White/Raspberry Fizz
Ink: Raspberry Fizz/Summer Sunrise/Aqua Mist/True Black
Papers: Bitty Dot Basics 2009 - Summer Sunrise
Other: Raspberry Fizz ribbon/Labels One dies

Wanna play along but wondering what to do if you haven't got a die-cutting machine?! How about finding a crafty peep to post you a few die-cut shapes to help you out?

So what's in it for you if you play along? How about a super sweet PTI stamp set?


Yup, the winner will receive the sweet stamp set, Fly Away!

So, you ready to play? Here's the deets:

* All entries must contain at least one PTI product to qualify

* To enter, use our inlinkz thingy at the bottom of this post. 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, July 26th 2010 at 9.00am GMT

* A winner will be chosen at random to receive some PTI goodies! In addition to this, 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.

OK crafty peeps, go get die cutting!

Aimes & Kate
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A Winner!

Happy Monday! Hope y'all had a good weekend!

Today it's time for a new challenge which means we get a draw a winner for our past, summertime challenge! What a fabulous response we had to the challenge - I'm definitely ready for summer now and loved every one's interpretation of summer!

OK I won't hold you any longer - time to draw a winner......

...drum roll, please.....

Here are your random numbers:

13

Timestamp: 2010-07-12 20:22:41 UTC

Number 13. Unlucky for some, but very lucky for Claire who's just bagged herself some PTI goodies! Congrats Claire! Could you please email us at apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.co.uk and we'll get some goodies out to you!

Here's Claire's fabulous card - you just can't beat juicy cherries in the summer (well, maybe with strawberries but cherries definitely come a close second LOL!)

And now for the tough task of picking our Top 3 PTI Passionistas....this was extra tough because I had no Kate to help me, she's trusting all judgement to me this week but I'm sure she'd agree on the following 3 cards:

Helen - Well what's summer without a beach, eh?! I love the way Helen created this beach scene and what really impressed me is the way she used Scattered Showers to create the scene - genius!

Monica - Oh what a clever idea! I love this shaped card! The use of buttons for seeds is fabulous but check out the awesome use of embossing to create the different textures of the watermelon; I mean who would have thought a halloween embossing folder could be used for a watermelon?!?!? A totally mouthwatering card!

Sarita - The inspiration may have come from a gorgeous hanging basket but this card reminds me of sultry, Arabian nights with that colour combo! Simply divine!

Congrats ladies - if you fancy a Top 3 blinkie to blink with pride on your blogs then pop us an email and I'll email you the code!

Thanks so much to everyone who joined in this challenge. I really hope you can play along with our new challenge which I'm about to publish very soon.....

Aimes
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A Winner!

I'm back again! Why so soon, you ask? Well to draw a winner for the fabulous circular card challenge set by Chris of course!

So who will be the winner of these fabulous Papertrey Ink papers?

Drumroll, please....

Here are your random numbers:

11

Timestamp: 2010-07-08 14:49:35 UTC

That means that Anja is our winner! Congrats, Anja! Send us your postal address to apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.co.uk and we'll forward your address to Chris to send you those lovely papers!

I'm sure you'll join us in thanking Chris not only for her generosity of the challenge and prize, but for being a fabulous featured stamper for June too! As you can tell, life has distracted us from featuring a stamper for July, but we'll be back on track next month!

Oooh and before I go, yes, I will feature a tutorial on the butterfly I made for this card if you really want one! Just gimme some time to work out how to record from my camera LOL!


Aimes
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Normality...

...I'm nearly back to it!

I'm so sorry that I've been too busy to blog/create recently. As you may or may not know my family and I have had a couple of stressful weeks with my dad going in for major heart surgery. The good news is that although there were some scary times, he's now home safe and sound. It's a long recovery process but things are starting to get back to normal around here...

...so what does normal mean for me?! Well getting inky of course! So I've managed to create a card for our current challenge - big hugs and thanks to my PTI partner in crime, Kate for holding the fort whilst I was MIA!

I couldn't resist indulging in some Hawaiian Shores for my summertime creation - I love it! I only wish the weather was more in the spirit of summer when I took this pic LOL!

That butterfly was cut using a PTI die and my Cuttlebug from a sheet of thin metal. It cut like buttah! The embossing was done after, and glossy accents proved a fab glue to fix it to the ribbon. I love how I can bend the wings into shape to add that extra dimension; I don't think this will be the last metal butterfly you see from me *wink*

Card Recipe
PTI Supplies
Stamps: Friends 'til the End/Background Basics: Text Style
Ink: Hawaiian Shores/Spring Moss
Card: Hawaiian Shores/Stamper's Select White/New Leaf
Papers: Green Boutique
Accessories: Metal Sheet/Cuttlebug/PTI Butterfly Die/Swiss Dot Embossing Folder/Hawaiian Shores Ribbon/EK Success Border Punch

So that's my sample for our current challenge - I hope you can play along too! Oh and if you're reading this very soon after me publishing it, there's still a few hours to play along with Chris' fantastic challenge in which you can win some fab PTI DPs!

Aimes
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Featured Stamper Post

This is my last post as the featured stamper for June (just a little late too!) - where did the month go?

I am just loving aperture cards that I am seeing all over and so this is my take on them.

I used Plum Pudding, Pure Poppy and Hibiscus Burst as my pallet, and coloured in the violets with Copic markers in the same colour range.


It's great to be able to mix and match the sentiments from the Year of Flowers sets; the sets are so versatile so you can colour to your heart's content or paper piece them too using patterned papers.

Many thanks to Kate and Aimes for the invitation this month!

Chris
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