Hope your day is Fabulous....

Whether you're watching the Royal Wedding or not, wishing you all a fabulous day, weekend, and an extra Bank Holiday if you're lucky enough to have one! :)

Card Deets
{Hope Your Day is Fabulous}
Stamps: Signature Greetings (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Rich Cocoa (Memento)
Card: Hawaiian Shores, Dark Chocolate (Papertrey Ink)
Patterned Paper: Dotty Biscotti (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: Dark Chocolate Twill Ribbon, Linen Impression Plate (Papertrey Ink)/Flower Embellishment (Prima)/Border Punch (EK Success)/Chompy! (Corner Chomper - We R Memory Keepers)

Oooh and before I dash, there's still time to enter our current challenge....*wink*

Aimes
x

Challenge: Royal Wedding Celebration

Hello there and welcome to a new challenge!

Unless you've been hiding under a rock for the past few months, you'll know that we have a very special royal event on the horizon....the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. We love a good royal shindig here on A Passion for Papertrey (any excuse to have a party!) and so this fortnight's challenge is focusing on the wedding theme.

Now you don't have to go royal for the challenge: anything wedding related will qualify. I, however, went a bit overboard-patriotic with my card:

Card Deets {Congratulations}
Stamps: Love Birds (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Tuxedo Black, London Fog (Memento)/Versamark
Cardstock: Enchanted Evening/Stamper's Select White/Pure Poppy
Accessories: Detail White EP (Stampendous)/ Birdcage Die (Papertrey Ink)

I'm not quite sure who I could send this card to apart from the happy couple to be.....well if Kate bags Prince Harry (is he too young, Kate?!) then I'll send it the them LOL!

And now over to Caryn..
Firstly, sorry for not being able to play along with the last challenge. My life has been just a tad hectic over the past couple of months but I am catching up with myself a wee bit now and managed to get my card made in plenty of time for this new challenge. With the revival of the much loved celebration street parties for the Royal Wedding (I vividly remember the Silver Jubilee one as a child) I thought I'd reflect this in my card so I reached straight for my Banner Builder stamps and dies. I used Pure Poppy and a colorbox chalk eye ink (Azure) for the flags and coloured the car (Enjoy The Ride) stamped in Smokey Shadow with grey ProMarkers. I glazed the window of the car with Crystal Effects and added a few wee gems for glitz.

So have you got plans for the bonus bank holiday? Whatever you're up to hope you have a great time.

Recipe:
Stamps: Enjoy The Ride, Banner Builder (PTI), Star Background (Hero Arts)
Card: Kraft, Spring Rain, Vintage Cream,
Ink: Pure Poppy, Smokey Shadow (PTI), Azure (Colorbox), Versamark
Other: Banner Builder Dies (PTI), Gems, Ribbon

And here's Kate: "So just to be different I've shunned red, white and blue and Royal Wedding influences and instead opted for a simple (and I hope, elegant!) monochromatic card - remember the challenge is for any wedding cards, not just one for Wills and Kate!"


Recipe:
Stamps: Big & Bold Wishes
Ink: Memento Black
Card: Stamper's Select White/Basic Black
Dies: Nestabilities Labels 2
Other: adhesive gems (Hero Arts)/White Grosgrain ribbon

Finally, as our featured stamper for April, Claire has this super pretty wedding card to share with us:


We hope you'll wanna join in the wedding celebrations with us! Up for grabs for one randomly selected peep will be....


One of every design of the Beautiful Blooms DP collection (6 sheets in total)

And....

A foot of ribbon in each of the coordinating colours (Pure Poppy, Hawaiian Shores, Simply Chartreuse & True Black)

Ready to party? Here are 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 had a few niggles with it!). 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, May 2nd 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.

Right then, we're off to get our outfits and hats sorted *wink*

Aimes, Caryn, Kate & Claire
xxxx

A Winner!

Can two weeks have flown by since we set our 'Springing into Spring' challenge?! Where does time fly by to?! We're definitely feeling the springtime after feasting our eyes on your fabulous creations!

But enough babbling from us, it's time to draw a winner.....do your thing Mr. Random.org!

Here are your random numbers:

17 

Timestamp: 2011-04-18 10:57:54 UTC

Which means that Debby is our winner! Congratulations Debby! Email us your postal addy to apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.co.uk and we'll get that sweet li'l stamp set out to ya!

And now onto our Top 3 PTI Passionistas. Well you all captured the season of spring in so many different ways that you made our task just about impossible! We even considered having a Top 5 but then that wouldn't be fair on all the other times we've had to just cut it down to three. So without further ado we decided on the following:

Claire truly captured spring with her beautifully stamped blossom falling from the trees. The mix of delicate, pastel colours truly sums up springtime and the added sparkles make this soooooooo pretty!

Wendy wowed us with this fabulous one-layered card: adding dimension through clear embossing. She cleverly uses the same stamp to represent the leaves of springtime as well as the emerging butterflies - fabulous!

And where's no.3 you ask? Well we felt you needed to see this entry in full, so feast your eyes on this fabulous creation:

Now if Daffodils don't represent springtime, we don't know what does! Shobana's clever pop-up card even has the daffodils blooming before your very eyes! What an amazing project!

Congrats ladies! If you'd like our Top 3 blinkie to blink with pride on your blogs then pop us an email at apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.co.uk and we'll send you the code.

Stay tuned tomorrow for a truly fabulous challenge fit for a King (or a prince and princess *wink wink*)

Aimes, Kate, Caryn & Claire
xxxx

Challenge: springing into spring!

Welcome to a new challenge here on A Passion for Papertrey! I bet you're all as glad as me that the clocks have gone forward, the daffodils are brightening our gardens, and the weather is getting a bit warmer...spring is most definitely in the air!! And to celebrate we're making this challenge a 'spring' challenge - think flowers, spring colours, Easter.. in fact anything that says spring to you!

Caryn has had to take a week off but Aimes, Claire - our Featured Stamper for April, and myself have got some springtime projects to share with you :)

For my card I used the Take Three Spring set, teamed with some vibrant colours. This was the first time I've used my Take Three die for the matching stamps... talk about making life easier!!



Recipe:
Stamps: Take Three Spring
Ink: Summer Sunrise/Raspberry Fizz/Memento black
Card: Stamper's Select White
Other: Spring Moss ribbon/Take Three dies/Corner Chomper


Over to Aimes
"Finally! Spring is here! After a winter that seemed to last forever, I'm so grateful that spring has finally arrived. No more de-icing the car, no more freezing in the snow and no more having to wait to take pictures of my projects at the weekend due to running out of daylight hours in the working week: Hooray for spring!

But enough gushing over the joys of spring and onto my spring-themed project:


For my project I think I've accidentally skipped spring and pounced onto summer - eek! But if you imagine these flowers as yellow daffodils, then I think you'd get the impression of spring, right?!Okay, okay, I 'fess up: I made these lil' gift packages for two very special buddies of mine a while before we moved digs and I'm being naughty using them for this challenge. Hope you can forgive me and maybe gimme a li'l sympathy as all my inky supplies are still imprisoned in those darn cardboard boxes. Man, the day they're released I'm gonna ink like I've never inked before! LOL!"

Project Deets
Stamps: Turning a New Leaf, Daily Designs Sentiments - PTI
Ink: Rich Cocoa - Memento/Versamark/Fresh Snow - PTI
Cardstock: Kraft
Patterned Paper: Dotty Biscotti - PTI
Accessories: Raspberry Fizz & Hawaiian Shores Grosgrain Ribbon and Buttons, Beautiful Blooms Die, Tag Sale #1 Die, Twine - PTI/'Chompy' - Corner Chomper/Cuttlebug


And here Claire' fabulous project - made using Tags for Spring. How cute is that Easter basket?!






And this the fun mini set that one lucky, randomly-drawn winner will receive! -




Here are the challenge 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 had a few niggles with it!). 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, April 18th 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.

Have fun!

Kate, Aimes, Caryn and Claire xxxx

A Winner!

So it's time to draw the winner of our baby challenge - thank you to everyone that entered!

Drum roll please....and the winner is...

Here are your random numbers:

15

Timestamp: 2011-04-04 23:12:07 UTC

...Carol! Congratulations Carol, please email your postal address to apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.co.uk and we'll send your prize to you!

And now onto our blinkie winners - three more fabulous creations to share with you!



1) Becky - We loved Becky's fabulous use of felt on her baby tag - imagine how tactile that must be! A great colour combination too!

2) Wendy - How about this super-cute card for a baby girl - we loved the layout of Wendy's card with its CAS feel and paper pieced kite - great job!

3) Ryan - Ryan's use of circles for the design of her project really jumped out at us - very eye-catching and perfectly balanced with the stitching!

Congrats ladies! If you'd like to blink with pride on your blogs with our Top 3 blinkie, then pop us an email and we'll give you the code!

Check back very soon for another fun challenge!!

Kate, Aimes, Caryn & Claire xxxx

April's Featured Stamper

Hey!

Aimes here, reporting from a mountain of cardboard boxes full still yet to be unpacked! Still, I don't need my inky supplies to introduce our featured stamper for April (albeit it a few days later than planned!) So, without further ado, let's give a warm welcome to April's Featured Stamper:

Claire Hamer!

Kate, Caryn and myself have met Claire in person at our previous PTI Make and Take event and she's such a fab lady who's up for a good giggle too! I even managed to spot her at Birmingham NEC last Saturday and had a lovely little catch-up with her! (Honestly, Claire, I promise I wasn't hunting you down to nag you about your interview questions for this blog post LOL!)

So here's a chance for you to get to know her a little better too!

1)How did you get into papercrafting?

I needed a 60th birthday card for my Dad & couldn't find anything I liked, so I decided to make him one instead. When I look back now at the card I made, I might have been better buying one! Although I think he loved it as he still has it.

2)How long have you been stamping for?

I started stamping almost as soon as I started papercrafting, so about 7 years ago.

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

I'm not sure how I found PTI, I think it was through some friends and they now have a lot to answer for. I love the attention to detail and the inspiration that's available on what to do with all the gorgeous PTI products.

4)What would you say is your stamping style?

Ahhh, style! I'm such a flitterbug I don't really have style, I'll be clean & simple one minute and completely grungy the next with a dash of cute in the middle.

5)Do you have a favourite PTI colour or colour combo that just makes you drool?
I love raspberry fizz, especially with a hint of Hawaiian Shore.

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

Just one, that's torture! I think it would have to be something like everyday button bits, so it covers as many occasions as possible and also contains sentiments. I love a sentiment to finish off a card.

7)Who is your PTI Idol?

Dawn McVey - I just love her style and she's such a sweetie too but then again all the PTI girls that I've met - yep I'm that lucky I've met lots of them at CHA and they are a great bunch of girls.

8)Where do you get your inspiration from?

I love taking inspiration from fashion and media. I'll often look at colour combinations in clothes shops and think that would like great on a card.

9)What’s your stamping dream?

To go to PTI HQ in Ohio and what's even better is that dream may well be coming true. Although Julie & Jane (two thirds of PTI) have warned me I'll have to work while I'm there. Woo hoo that means they'll be letting me into the warehouse!

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

My slightly unloved blog http://gingerpiedesigns.blogspot.com/ . I promise to be posting regularly again soon, it's just that moving house cuts down on your crafting time for a couple of weeks, but my PTI goodies are now unpacked, so I'm a happy stamping bunny again.

Thanks, Claire! We're sooooooooooooooooo totally jealous that you get to go to CHA and cosy up to the PTI DT - give 'em a hello from us next time :) And I can personally sympathise with the amount of time moving takes from your precious inky time! I'm just waiting for the day my own inky supplies are released from their cardboard boxed prisons!

I'm sure you'll welcome Claire and like us, are looking forward to seeing some of her fabulous creations here on the blog!

Before I dash, Happy Mother's Day to all you peeps celebrating it! Gotta 'fess up that my mum received a store-bought card for the first time in years *gasp*! That's what happens when you don't ink in advance so let that be a lesson to y'all! *wink*

Aimes
x

Hey Baby!!

Morning all and welcome to our new challenge. To celebrate the long awaited arrival of spring and all things new and fresh we thought we'd have a baby-themed challenge. It doesn't have to be a card - we love projects of all kinds (as long as we can see our beloved PTI in there somewhere!!).

Our lovely Aimes has gone missing this week. She was last seen under a heap of brown boxes and gaffer tape en route to her new digs. So it's just Kate and I sharing our baby ideas with you this week - and unbeknowns to both of us our colour schemes are somewhat similar!!!!

I've opted to use the gorgeous Baby Button Bits set - LOVE it. I've paper pieced the cupcake with fine linen dotty paper which is stamped in Dark Chocolate ink onto Aqua Mist cardstock. The starry design which I stamped in Aqua Mist onto Fine Linen card is my new Hero Arts purchase (ssshh, don't tell anyone!!).

Caryn

Recipe:
Stamps: Baby Button Bits (PTI), Star background stamp (Hero Arts)
Card: Kraft, Fine Linen, Aqua Mist
Ink: Dark Chocolate
Paper: Dotty
Other: Mat stack 4 die, Fine linen button, SU scalloped edge punch.


Over to Kate: "I recently had to make two baby boy cards so I reached for my Bitty Baby Blessings set. I love paper piecing with this set so paper pieced two cute babygrows! Can you spot a subtle difference between the two cards? No?! Ok, the main panel of the one one the left is popped up on foam dimensionals so has more depth, in real life you can really notice the difference, and I definitely prefer it."







Recipe:
Stamps: Bitty Baby Blessings
Card: Stamper's Select White, Spring Rain, Kraft
Ink: Memento Black
Paper: Bitty Dots
Other: 2 1/2 Circle Collection Dies/Argyle Impression Plate

And this is the fabulous PTI stamp set you could win!:




Here are the challenge 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 had a few niggles with it!). 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, April 4th 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!!

Caryn, Kate and Aimes xxx

Our winners!

What a fabulous collection of entries we had to choose from this week.  We were really spoiled for choice and saw some great ideas for using our PTI sets with the paper-piecing technique.

Our randomly chosen winner this week and the lucky lady winning the PTI stamp set is...

...14

Which means Vicki is our winner! Yay!!!

Drop us an email Vicki so we can arrange for your prize to wing it's way to you.

And here are our Top 3 Passionistas - well done ladies.


Chupa - We loved the fun vibrant feel to this card and the mix of papers on those butterflies works so well.
Anne - Well what can we say about Anne's field of golden daffodils.  I feel happy just thinking about them!!!
Maureen - We all just adore this card - the rainbow of flags on the banner just make you think of summer!

Well done ladies.  Drop us an email so we can send you the blinkie for our Top 3 Passionista.

Caryn, Aimes and Kate xxx

"Piece out, man"!!

Geddit? Piece, peace??? Ok, it's tenuous but a link all the same to our lovely new challenge which is to use paper piecing in your project. I love to do paper piecing but it can be time-consuming. I have to say though the result is usually worth it and PTI have loads of fabulous sets that lend themselves beautifully to this technique.
For my sample I chose a set that hasn't seen much love in a long time (hides head in shame). I love this cute little set though - it was among the first I bought. I have stamped it onto my favourite PTI paper too - the polka dot one from the Raspberry Fizz collection - yum. The sentiment is also from the Scattered Showers set.

Caryn

Recipe
{Wishing You Sunshine}
Stamps: Scattered Showers, Background Basics: Hearts (Papertrey Ink), Legder Stamp (Hero Arts)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento) Versamark, Enchanted Evening (Papertrey Ink)
Cardstock: Enchanted Evening, Kraft (Papertrey Ink)
Patterned Paper: Raspberry Fizz collection (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories:Raspberry Fizz twill ribbon/, Medium scallop border die (Papertrey Ink)

Over to Aimes:
Believe it or not, I don't actually own that many PTI sets that scream out, "Paper-piece me, girly!" but it is a technique that I seriously love when I've got the patience to do it, and it's a great way to use those diddy scraps you've been hoarding too *wink*

So after rooting through some of my sets, I came across the solid outline stamp of a butterfly from Butterfly Dreams; rooted through my Bitty Dots DP Scrap bag (yes, I am an organised, verging-on-OCD kinda gal when it comes to scraps!) and got busy:

As you can hopefully tell, I wasn't happy with just a pinky, dotty butterfly: I wanted a shiny, super glittery butterfly instead. Cue a good dollop of the Glossy Accents and glitter for a blingin' butterfly so bright it'd blind ya LOL!

Gotta love me some super-shiny-shimmery goodness :)

Card Deets
{Happy Birthday}
Stamps: Butterfly Dreams, Birthday Bash Sentiments (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento) Versamark
Cardstock: Enchanted Evening (Papertrey Ink)
Patterned Paper: Basic White 6x6 Pad (Basic Grey)/Hibiscus Burst Bitty Dot Basics (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: Simply Chartreuse Felt, Eyelet Border Die, Simply Chartreuse Button (Papertrey Ink)/Cuttlebug/Circle Nestability (Spellbinders)/Glossy Accents (Ranger)/Prisma Glitter/Chompy (Corner Chomper - We R Memory Keepers)

Over to Kate: "The minute I thought about this challenge I reached for my On My Couch set, and paper pieced the sofa with one of the papers from Turning a New Leaf - then added some shading with a copic marker to make it add a bit of dimension. A simple, CAS card for a special friend!"



Recipe:
Stamps - On My Couch/On My Couch Additions
Ink - Memento black
Card - Vintage Cream/Dark Chocolate
Paper - Turning a New Leaf
Dies - Mat Stack 5/Ric-Rak

So what's on offer this time round for all you lovely challengees?? It's this........

Fillable Frames #5 stamp set.

Here are the challenge 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 had a few niggles with it!). 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, March 21st 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.

Caryn, Aimes and Kate
xxxx

A winner!

Happy Monday, peeps!

As you may or may not know, we've had a bit of a shuffle around on the blog and will now be announcing winners and our Top 3 PTI Passionistas on the Monday a challenge ends, and introducing our new challenge on the Tuesdays (Just in case you're poised and super eager to check out our new challenge; I don't wanna see you glued to the screen for a challenge that isn't due until tomorrow now!)

So now it's time to draw a randomly selected winner for our 'invitations' challenge. Drum roll please.....

Here are your random numbers:

7 

Timestamp: 2011-03-07 16:51:47 UTC

Lucky number seven is super lucky for...Angélique! Congrats, Angélique! Be sure to email your postal address to us at apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.co.uk so we can send that sweet stamp set out to ya!

Now maybe you were all busy, or all unsure of inviting us over but of those of you who did create fabulous invites made it a toughie to narrow it down to a top 3. After much consideration and oooohing and aaaahing we decided on the following:


Linby went one further from using the outline image from On My Couch and designed her own fabric covers using another stamp! We also love the repetition of the sentiment across the card!

Gerdine wowed us with her use of Up, Up and Away to create these super sweet invites. We hadn't even considered this as a set to use for an invite but it looks fabulous wouldn't you agree?!

Angélique literally took the idea of an invite out of one box and into another with this amazing tea-filled invite all packaged up sweetly into a box! What a super sweet way to invite a friend over for tea!

Congrats ladies! If you'd like to blink with pride on your blogs with our Top 3 blinkie then pop us an email and we'll give you the code!

Now for everyone else, stay tuned tomorrow for our new challenge; I have a feeling you'll go to 'pieces' once you see it *wink*

Aimes, Caryn & Kate
xxx

P.S If you're wondering about our featured stamper for March, we've decided to take a rain-check this month. Life is busy for all of us at the moment including the stamper we'd like to feature so it'll be back for April!

Friend

Hello, hello!

Flying by today with a li'l card I haven't shown on here yet:

This was created for a past Make it Monday challenge from PTI. I love that each challenge focuses on a new technique (and that you could be in with the chance of winning a PTI stamp set each week too of course!)

Ooh and speaking of challenges, why not enter our current challenge? Maybe even combine it with a Make it Monday challenge to double your chances of winning some PTI goodies *wink*

You'll have to forgive my lack of words and absence around Blogland today and for the next few weeks: we're moving house and my guy has the huge task of training me to be organised lol! He's a brave guy who's not afraid of a challenge.....I think he's stressing already and we're yet to open a cupboard to pack up - ha!

Wishing the rest of you a fabulous, and stress-free week!

Aimes
x

A new challenge!

Hello there! Thank you for joining us for another challenge! Before we go any further today we have just a bit of house-keeping for you - we've decided to change the day we start our challenges to a Tuesday. Our deadline will still be 9am on Monday morning (two weeks after the challenge has been set) with the winners being announced later that day. The new challenge will then be set on the following day.

OK, onto far more interesting business! For this challenge we're planning parties!! Ok, you don't actually have to plan a party (but if you do will you invite us!) - but we'd like to see what you can come up with when making an invite for a party. In fact in can be an invite to any event - wedding, christening etc - so long as it's an invitation and it features at least one PTI product you can enter the challenge!

For my sample I made a pocket card, using some scrummy Hawai'in Shores card and ribbon, and the Green boutique papers. Here's how it will be received:


And the recipient will pull out the card to reveal the invitation (which I will hand write on the white card).



Card recipe: (All PTI unless otherwise stated)

Stamps - Tags for Spring, Birthday Bash Sentimens
Ink - New Leaf
Card - Stamper's Select White, Hawai'in Shore
Paper - Green Boutique
Ribbon - Hawai'in Shores Saddle Stitch
Dies - Ric-Rac, 1 3/4in circles
Other - Corner Chomper

Over to Aimes
"Hmmmm....invites.....well I'll be the first to admit that I don't really make invites. Contrary to what you may believe, I'm not the 'Hostess with the Mostess' (I leave that trait to both Caryn and Kate LOL!) but I do love being invited to a good shindig *wink*

So I tried something a little different. Still on my tag kick from our last challenge and a vellum kick from the previous PTI Make It Monday challenge, I combined both to come up with this invite:

Yup, it's my party and everyone is invited! (But you'll have to share this one invite, OK?! Ha!)

The addition of a layer of a vellum on the tag tones down the bold background stamping underneath slightly. You could also use your printer to print the party details directly on to your sheet of vellum and then die cut out after. The transparency of the vellum means you can die cut after printing to absolute perfection :)

Invite Deets
{it's my party!}
Stamps: Damask Designs, Birthday Bash Sentiments (Papertrey Ink)/Sentiment from Frame-It (Waltzingmouse Stamps)
Ink: Dark Chocolate, Ocean Tides (Papertrey Ink)/Versamark/Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Cardstock: Dark Chocolate, Ocean Tides, Aqua Mist, Raspberry Fizz, Vellum (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Cuttlebug Embossing Folder (Provocraft)/Raspberry Fizz Grosgrain Ribbon, Tag Sale #1 Die, Limitless Layers 1 3/4" Collection Dies, Medium Scallop Border Die(Papertrey Ink)

With hindsight I've realised that I could have also put a vellum overlay on the back of the tag as an RSVP too. Well if I ever do host anything I'll remember that tip for next time..."

And now to Caryn..

"Hey there folks and happy Tuesday. It's happy for me as it's half term here and that means no morning routine of getting the children to school -yay! I'm sure Aimes is with me there ;0).
Now, invitations. As much as I LOVE to entertain I too am a bit like Aimes and don't really get round to the invitation sending part. I tend to go for group texts!!! However, I have decided that for my hubby's 40th birthday in July (yes, I'm getting ahead of myself for once) I am going to do ACTUAL invites!! The card I've made here won't be the finished design - it'll be a bit more grown up (!) but this was the mood I was in when I made it so it's a bit more childish! Actually, when I think about it this would suit my other half perfectly!


{Recipe}
Stamps: Everyday Classics (2008 anniversary set), Round and Round (2009 anniversary set), Banner Builder
Card: Simply Chartreuse, Stampers select white.
Paper: Beautiful Blooms
Ink: Pure Poppy, Hawaiian Shores and Simply Chartreuse
Accessories: Mat stack 4 die. Papermania gems.

As our featured stamper for February, here's Imke's fabulous invitation showing that you don't have to think of just parties for an invite. This sweet card is a lovely way to invite a friend for a get-together!

And here is the fabulous prize up for grabs! This super cute mini PTI stamp set will go to a randomly drawn winner -



Here are the challenge 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 had a few niggles with it!). 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, March 7th 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.



Kate, Aimes, Caryn & Imke
xxxx

Our Winners!

Here are your random numbers:

7 

Timestamp: 2011-02-21 13:00:44 UTC

Which is lucky 7 for Voegelchen! Congrats Voegelchen! Send us your postal addy to apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.co.uk and we'll get that sweet fillable frames stamp set out to ya!


And now to our top 3 Papertrey Passionistas. There was so much creativity to choose from this week but here's 3 that really caught our eye.

Mandy: We loved the pretty vintage feel and how she really put those Love Lives Here dies to great use.
Michelle: Michelles tag is perfect for the valentines theme and we loved her use of the Say it With Style sentiment on the tag.
Vanessa: Another very pretty tag and we thought her buttons really lifted this design.

Well done ladies! Please pop us an email (apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.co.uk) and we'll send you the code for our blinkie!

Pop back tommorrow for our new challenge.

Caryn, Kate and Aimes xxx

Belated Valentine's....

Just popping in with a li'l card of love:


After all, I think the most romantic of gestures are those that are done when they're least expected (e.g not on Valentine's day!) it gives you the perfect excuse too if you just happen to have forgotten about that special, lovey-dovey day *wink*

Look closely at this card and you'll hopefully see that a lot more work, sweat and tears heart and soul went into this card than you'd originally think. Each love themed sentiment was hand picked from all my sets and clear embossed onto shimmer cardstock. Gotta love me some shimmer :)

And that's enough love from me today...!

Aimes
x

Card Deets
{You are the beat of my heart}
Stamps: Sentiments from various Papertrey Ink Sets, Love Birds (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: London Fog, Tuxedo Black (Memento)/Pure Poppy (Papertrey Ink)/Versamark
Cardstock: Pure Poppy, White Shimmer (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: Fresh Snow Satin Ribbon (Papertrey Ink)/Detail Clear EP (Stampendous)

Smile :)

This card is dedicated to Fridays....

Friday, you always make me 'smile' :D

Happy start of the weekend, peeps! Up to anything interesting? I'm so happy that I have two full days free and full of inky time - yay! Oooh and if you're not to busy yourself, why not tag along with our current challenge (see what I did there? Tag along...oh I know it's a poor pun but at least humour me a little *wink*)

Aimes
x

Our winners!

Hey there blog friends! It's time to draw the winners for our last challenge - thank you to everyone who took inspiration from the photograph to make a card, looks like it certainly got your creative juices flowing! So let's see who won that l'il stamp set shall we?!

And the winner is...

Here are your random numbers:

5

Timestamp: 2011-02-09 16:33:50 UTC

....Beverley!! Congrats Bev! Please send email your postal address to apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.co.uk and we'll send your prize asap!

And now for our Top 3 PTI Passionistas - as usual it was tough to whittle them down to just three but here they are!

1) Vannessa - We loved Vannessa's combination of stamped hearts and patterned papers but it was the ruched ribbon that really sold us, just gorgeous!

2) Margaret C - Margaret's striking design really jumped out at us. We loved the repetition of the stamped hearts that made such a fabulous background panel, and they're all embossed too!

3) Claire - Who couldn't fall in love with a tree of button hearts! Claire wowed us with this CAS card - lots of white-space, a great design and those super-cute buttons - what's not to love!

Congrats ladies! If you'd like our Top 3 blinkie to blink with pride on your blog, then feel free to pop us an email (apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.co.uk) and we'll send you the code!

Kate, Aimes, Caryn & Imke xxx

I DO like Mondays!

I know, not everybody's favourite day of the week BUT for all us Papertrey Ink fans we now have a new reason to look forward to Monday.  There is a new challenge called Make It Mondays and each week one of the PTI DT will post a video showing that week's technique.  This week there is a fab challenge from Erin Lincoln using different sentiments from different sets in a particular theme.

Now, I don't know if this was REALLY the point but I took it upon myself to get ALL my Christmas sets out and use at least one sentiment from each one.  Here's what happened...


I know what you're thinking... it's a Christmas card and there's no Pure Poppy to be seen!!  See, I can make a card without it!!
I stamped most of the sentiments in Tea Dye distress ink and the darker "Merry Christmas" in Vintage sepia.  I don't know if you can make it out but I also stamped the large poinsettia from Year of Flowers: Poinsettia to give a subtle background detail.  Nothing like my usual style but I had fun - which IS the point isn't it.

Hugs,
Caryn xxx

Tag - you're it!

Firstly apologies that our linky thingy was no longer available for you peeps cutting it close to our deadline for the last challenge. Thanks for leaving your links in the comments section for us! We do know of the extra entries that were entered after it decided to be naughty don't worry, you'll be included when we draw a winner and decide on our Top 3 :)

How about we start over again with a new challenge and hopefully with a linky tool that works (fingers crossed!)?! Sounds like a fun idea to me! So for this fortnight's challenge we wanna see your fabulous takes on gift tags!

I fancied making a tag suitable for any one of the guys in my family (both young and old!) and also wanted to show you that you can play Tag too even if you don't have a tag-shaped die:

I simply used the Mat Stack 1 Die, punched a hole and set an eyelet in the top - voila! A tag! It actually felt good to use one of the many thousands of eyelets I've hoarded from an era when they were popular LOL! Oooh and a bit of masking on my "Dude You Rock!" sentiment stamp provides the shortened sentiment and gives even more value for money on a sweet stamp :D

Tag Deets
{You Rock}
Stamps: Fancy Flourishes, Star Prints, Signature Greetings (Papertrey Ink)
Cardstock: Ocean Tides
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)/Versamark
Patterned Paper: Pure Poppy Bitty Box Basics
Accessories: True Black Vintage Button, Jute Ribbon Twine

And now over to Caryn....

Hey everyone, are you all enjoying the anniversary celebrations so far on Nichole's blog? Yesterday there was a free download of some cute tags created by each of PTI's stamp designers - did you get it?? Well, I urge you to go grab it, there's some gorgeous images on there, one of which I have used here on my tag. This one is from Heather Nichols. Kate and Aimes will probably be rolling their eyes at me (wink) for using Pure Poppy again but it literally goes with just about everything (not sure about Melon Berry - haven't tried that combo....). I have used Polka Dot Basics II and embossed it with clear powder on the background and coloured the flower on the image in with a red ProMarker as the original is Melon Berry and I wanted it red!!

And here's a close up!

{Card recipe}
Free anniversary download
Stamps: Polka Dot Basics II, Banner Builder
Cardstock: Spring Moss, Pure Poppy.
Ink: Pure Poppy
Other: Pure Poppy dating dots ribbon, Pure Poppy bakers twine, Promarker

Here's Kate:

For my tags I played around with one of my favourite colour combos - kraft and aqua mist - some new dies and some felt.

All the PTI dies make tag-making so fun!!

These parcels are going to two very special ladies who deserve a special tag, and I'm definitely going to be making more tags in the future!

Finally, as our featured stamper for February, here's Imke's fabulous tag:

I think you'll agree that this one amazing tag!

So ready to play 'Tag'?! I hope so! Up for grabs for one randomly selected peep will be this Fillable Frames #11 stamp set:


But before you dash - here are those all important 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 had a few niggles with it!). 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, February 21st 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.

Tag! You're it!

Aimes, Caryn, Kate & Imke
xxxx