No tricks, just treats!

Happy Halloween!

I couldn't resist popping in on this spook-tac-ular night to share some paper-crafted Halloween goodies with you:

Firstly, this li'l tag was sneaked into my guy's lunch today (along with some scrummy treats of course!)

And finally, I managed to whip up seven treat holders for my nieces and nephews after letting my inner-gaming-geek speak to me:

Ahhhh Pac-Man - how I loved that game! Not sure my nieces and nephews will understand the whole Pac-Man concept but I think they're more concerned with the contents of the treat holders to be fair:

Oh and I just so happen to have bought a spare packet of these treats....well it'd be rude not to take advantage of 'em, right?! *wink*

If you're celebrating Halloween have fun and stay safe! :)

Aimes
x

Tag Deets
{My little Pumpkin}
Stamps: Tiny Treats Halloween (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Cardstock: Stamper's Select White, Orange Zest, True Black (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: Promarkers/Orange Zest Grosgrain Ribbon, True Black Button, Cream Button Twine, Mat Stack 4 Die, Limitless Layers Die (Papertrey Ink)

Treat Deets
{Boo!}
Cardstock: True Black, Simply Chartreuse, Plum Pudding, Orange Zest (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Fresh Snow (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: Halloween Die - 'BOO!', Cuttlebug (Provocraft)/Orange Dotty Ribbon, Simply Chartreuse Ribbon, Lavender Moon Ribbon (Papertrey Ink)

Just a note (and another silhouette!)

Happy Tuesday!

It's proving to be a very laid back week here: although I had lots planned for the half term, an icky cold has made me rethink those plans and has persuaded me to stay curled up with honey and lemon instead!

Well cold or no cold, one thing I do plan to do is get some stamps inked and created some more cards like this:

I made this a while back and haven't shared it here until now. In fact, this card would totally fit our current challenge, sensational silhouettes!

If you've got a few spare inky moments, why not join in the fun with us? You've got until Oct 31st to enter!

Oooh October 31st - Halloween! That reminds me that I've gotta whip up 7 treats for my li'l monsters nieces and nephews so I best get back to my desk and rustle up something spook-tac-ular *wink*

Aimes
x

Card Deets
All PTI Products Unless Stated
{Just a Note}
Stamps: Peaceful Garden, Happy Trails
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Cardstock: Vintage Cream/Kraft/True Black
Accessories: Rustic Jute Button Twine/True Black Vintage Button, Linen and Canvas Impression Plate, Cuttlebug (Provocraft)

Challenge : Sensational Silhouettes!!

Hello PI fans and welcome to a new challenge here on A Passion For Papertrey. I don't know about you but I can't believe how quickly this year is flying by! One minute it was the middle of summer and now Christmas feels like it's just around the corner!! Is it just me??

So as another fortnight goes by, we are at the start of the next one and our newest challenge - Sensational Silhouettes. Now don't panic and think "I don't own a PTI set with a silhouette in it"!! Think of flowers, leaves, solid shapes of any kind, dies, etc - all of those could be manipulated in some way to create a silhouette. Let your creative juices run free!!!

My (loose) interpretation of a silhouette is in the form of an aperture made using the Mat Stack 4 die. I cut the aperture from a panel of Simply Chartreuse and then ran it through my Big Shot using the woodgrain impression plate (LOVE!!). This was popped up with foam adhesive and I placed a panel of Pure Poppy underneath it. I am in love with the Stylish Sentiments: Holidays set and used one of the large greetings as my focal point which was stamped in Versamark and embossed with white filigree powder. To give it the country/folky feel (which I love SOO much for Christmas) I added a strip of gingham ribbon and die cut a couple of snowflakes from Kraft and Vintage Cream card using some Sizzlet dies.

{Recipe}

Stamps: Stylish Sentiments: Holidays
Paper: Simply Chartreuse, Pure Poppy, Vintage Cream, Kraft.
Ink: Versamark with White Filigree Embossing powder
Tools: Woodgrain Impression Plate, Mat stack 4 die, Sizzlit Snowflake dies, Big Shot
Other: Button (Pure Poppy), Gingham ribbon (John Lewis)

Over to Aimes:
"Hmmm well when I thought of silhouettes for this challenge I decided to play with a set that I haven't played with nearly enough:

Card Deets
{A Bird...}
Stamps: Happy Trails (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Pure Poppy (Papertrey Ink)/Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Cardstock: Stamper's Select White (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: Pure Poppy Grosgrain Ribbon, Happy Trails Bird Die, Text Impression Plate (Papertrey Ink)/Cuttlebug/Gem (Stash!)

I'm ashamed to admit that Happy Trails is a set that I *had* to have and has hardly seen so much as an inkpad since being introduced to the rest of my stamps! Now I may be bending the rules slightly with that bird but I'm stickin' to my guns and sayin' it's a silhouette: I'm not sure if the lined details mean it's not one...

...oh well seeing as now I'm not sure if that bird counts as a silhouette, I have another card up my sleeve that I created a while back but haven't shared here that definitely features a silhouette:

Card Deets
{Just Because}
Stamps: Iconic Images, Round and Round (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Cardstock: Stamper's Select White, Spring Rain, Kraft, Orange Zest (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: Cuttlebug (Provocraft)/Mat Stack 2 Die, Linen and Canvas Impression Plate (Papertrey Ink)/Flower Paper Punch (X-Cut)/Pearl (Hero Arts)/Circle Nestabilities

Now I know for sure that this is a silhouette! :)

Sadly poor Kate is suffering from a trapped nerve problem this week (ouch) and has been unable to upload her card today. Hopefully she will be back on form later in the week and will share her creation with us then.


So what's the prize up for grabs this time? The stunning Mehndi Medallion stamp set (lush!)

Now for the all important challenge guidelines:

* All entries must contain at least one PTI product to qualify (please state what is PTI as sometimes it's hard to see :D)

* All entries must be newly created (well, new to Blogland anyways!). Please don't link to old posts that might happen to fit the brief of the challenge!!

* To enter, use our inlinkz thingy at the bottom of this post. 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, October 31st 2011 at 9.00am GMT (oooohhhh!)

* 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!

It's Winner Time!

Yes, we have a winner for the last challenge (Goin' Geometric) here on A Passion For Papertrey...

3

Random numbers generated Oct 17 2011 at 16:12:52 by www.psychicscience.org
Free educational resources for parapsychology, psychical research & mind magic.

And that means our lucky winner of the sweet stamp set is Steph.  Well done girly, get your deets emailed over and Aimes will send your prize off to you.

And now onto the Papertrey Top 3 Passionistas.  Another difficult choice for us this time but here are the three we finally agreed on.

 

Shannon - What a great use of one of the Christmas Labels stamps - very geometric and very clever!!

Emma - We loved Emma's fun card and the colour scheme just shouts "happy".

Lorena - We thought Lorena's CAS card was very elegant and perfect for any number of occasions and recipients.

Great job on those cards ladies - if you'd like to sport our Passionista blinkie on your blog then just drop us a line.

Don't forget to return tomorrow for a brand spanking new challenge - hope you'll join us.

Big hugs,
Caryn, Aimes and Kate xxx

Lotsa Circles...

Well it's a super sunny Saturday here today so I'm zooming by to share a card with you before heading out the door to make the most of this autumn sunshine (I love it but I need to wrap up warm!)

*Shhh!* don't tell Kate or Caryn, but the Kraft strip features a non-PTI stamp but everything else is PTI!

In fact, I could enter this into our current challenge seeing as it's featuring so many circles (Well, that is, if I were allowed to enter and keep the sweet stamp set that's up for grabs and is currently sitting on my desk waiting for its destination to be announced!)

Could you be it's destination? Get your thinking cap on this weekend if you've got any spare inky time and think about geometric shapes in your design. Who knows, it might just win you some more stamps for your stamping pleasure :)

Aimes
x

Card Deets
{Happy Birthday}
Stamps: Birthday Bash Sentiments (Papertrey Ink)/For the Love of Dots (Practicing Creativity)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)/Versamark
Cardstock: Soft Stone, Enchanted Evening, Kraft, Blueberry Sky, Stamper's Select White (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: Enchanted Evening Satin Ribbon, Polka Dot Impression Plate (Papertrey Ink)/Circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders)/Clear Gems (Zva)/Grand Calibur (Spellbinders)

Challenge - Goin' Geometric

Welcome to a fabulous new challenge here on A Passion for Papertrey! We hope you're ready to throw some shapes and incorporate some geometric elements to your paper-crafting projects this fortnight; we want to see simple geometric forms such as circles, rectangles, triangles etc...stealing the spotlight of your designs.

For my own project I opted to play with circles. A circular stamp of circles from Daily Designs was my inspiration point:

Card Deets
{for you}
Stamps: Daily Designs, Wonderful Words Additions (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: London Fog, Memento Black (Tuxedo)
Cardstock: Stamper's Select White, Simply Chartreuse (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: Simply Chartreuse Buttons (Papertrey Ink)/Twine (Pink Paislee)

I couldn't resist adding some scrummy simply chartreuse buttons to continue the circular theme on this tiny 3x3 card *wink*

Over to Kate:
"I loved making this card - I used my Tranquillity Trilogy set and dies for the first time and loved them. I was going to go for a triangle but ended up going for a hexagon, it was so satisfying fitting it together! I decided to keep it simple and stick to a monochromatic card, can't go wrong with Ripe Avocado for a Christmas card!"

Recipe:
Stamps: Tranquillity Trilogy
Ink: Ripe Avocado, Versafine black
Card: Stamper's Select White/Ripe Avocado
Other: Double Ended Banner Dies/gems

Over to Caryn..

As promised it's another Christmas card from me! I started to look for geometric shapes in my PTI sets and of course the triangle banners from Banner Builder immediately popped out at me! I started with a kraft card base (my favourite kind at the moment) paired it with Pure Poppy card and some patterned paper from the Rustic snowflakes collection. It's not that easy to see in the photo but I added a good sprinkling of red glitter to the flags, the edge of the card and the sentiment (from Big and Bold Holiday sentiments). Another one to tick off my list!

Ready to get jiggy with geometric elements? We hope so! Up for grabs for one randomly selected European peeps is this mini stamp set:

Flower Fusion #6

Be sure to check out our deets before playing along!

* All entries must contain at least one PTI product to qualify (please state what is PTI as sometimes it's hard to see :D)

* All entries must be newly created (well, new to Blogland anyways!). Please don't link to old posts that might happen to fit the brief of the challenge!!

* To enter, use our inlinkz thingy at the bottom of this post. 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, October 17th 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
xxx

A Winner!

Thank you so much to everyone who entered our last 'mad for tags' challenge and apologies that we couldn't get our linky thingy to behave for us; hopefully we've managed to include everyone who entered and left a link in our comments section!

So now it's time to draw a winner......

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

Ta-dah!

Mr Random has chosen #1 as our winner which means that Emma is the lucky recipient of a super sweet stamp set! Congrats, Emma! Pop us an email with the subject 'PTI Winner' with your postal addy and we'll get that set out to ya!

And now for our Top 3 PTI Passionistas. I think it's safe to say that you all rocked the idea of using tags (and I've personally picked up a few more inspirational ideas for ways to incorporate 'em) and as always we had the tough job of narrowing it down to our Top 3:


Lynn got us into the Christmas spirit with these super fun retro-lights on her card. We love the way she layered a die-cut circle on top of tag for a fab focal point!

Lynn Put let her gorgeous tag take the centre stage on this beautifully rich and warm autumnal card. We love the cluster of acorns and leaves :)

Cecilie captured our hearts with her sweet mini-tag which is the perfect embellishment to a winter themed card and a super way of adding a sentiment when using busy patterns!

Congrats ladies! If you'd like our Top 3 blinkie to blink with pride on your blogs then feel free to pop us an email (please type 'blinkie' or 'Top 3' as your subject) and we'll email you the code!

Thanks so much to everyone who played along with us! We hope you'll find time to play along with our new challenge tomorrow (and fingers crossed that our linky thingy will behave for us!)

Aimes, Caryn & Kate
xxx

Email alert...

We've recently been alerted that our A Passion for Papertrey email account has been compromised and is sending potentially nasty emails to people in our address book.

If you receive an email from us (apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.co.uk) and it looks unfamiliar and/or contains a link please do not click it and delete it instead! Kate, Caryn and myself will always sign our emails with our name at the end so please bear this in mind when assessing whether an email from us is genuine or not.

We're very sorry for anyone this has caused an inconvenience to and hope the situation is now resolved!

Thank you for your patience!

Aimes, Caryn & Kate
xxx

Challenge: Mad for Tags!

Hi everyone and thank you for joining us for another challenge! This time we're going mad for tags! Yep, we want you to make and tag and then incorporate it in a card or other papercrafting project. Remember, if you don't have any tag dies or punches you can always cut one yourself!

This is the first of many Christmas cards I'm embarking on - amazing for me in September! I went straight for one of my favourite Christmas colour combos - red, cream and kraft, and used the super-cute Tiny Tags Christmas set. I'm so looking forward to getting a lot of mileage out of this set this year!




Recipe:
Stamps: Tiny Treats Christmas, Fillable Frames 9
Card: Kraft, Vintage Cream
Paper: 2008 Bitty Dot Basics
Ink: Memento black, Vintage Cream
Other: Fillable Frames 9 die, Pure Poppy button, twine, Corner Chomper, Copic markers


Over to Caryn...

As I am now in proper panic mode in the run up to the BIG day - virtually every card that I create from now until December 24th (yes, I am NEVER completely in control) will be a Christmas card of some description. This year I am not putting myself under pressure to make the usual 150 plus that I do every year. I'm not a fan of the mass production approach as I get bored too easily so it's rare I make the same card twice. With that in mind I have set myself a target of 50 cards, all different for those people that I know will appreciate them. For those distant relatives and friends of the family that I don't really "know" but nevertheless exchange cards with every year, there will be a card, just not a special hand-crafted one! I know that's a bit naughty but I would rather put that time into making something for my dearest friends and family members who will feel that little bit more special knowing not every one got one!!

{Recipe}
Stamps: Big and Bold Holiday Wishes, Wreath for All Seasons.
Card: Rustic Cream, Kraft
Others: Bakers Twine (Pure Poppy), vintage button (Ripe avocado)grosgrain ribbon (SU!), gems (Papermania), woodgrain impression plate.

Over to Aimes:
For this tag-tastic challenge I adopted a miniature approach and found this the perfect opportunity to play with my tiny tags die and stamp set :)

Surprise, surprise - I actually used the other side of my linen and canvas impression plate *gasp!* I'm hoping that the plaid will give my card that guy feel as this was made with my nephew in mind who turns 12 soon. I assumed with the whole 'HB 2 U' sentiment it gives it that kinda cool edgy look *wink*

Card Recipe

{For You, Party, HB 2 U}

Stamps: Tiny Tags, Birthday Bash Sentiments

Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)/Pure Poppy (Papertrey Ink)

Cardstock: Stamper's Select White, Pure Poppy (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: Bakers' Twine, Linen and Canvas Impression Plate, Tiny Tags Die (Papertrey Ink)/Spellbinders Grand Calibur/Nestabilities

Ready to join in the fun? Here's what you can win:

Flower Fusion 1 set

And here are the deets:

* All entries must contain at least one PTI product to qualify (please state what is PTI as sometimes it's hard to see :D)

* All entries must be newly created (well, new to Blogland anyways!).  Please don't link to old posts that might happen to fit the brief of the challenge!!

* To enter, use our inlinkz thingy at the bottom of this post. 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, October 3rd 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 xxx

Link up for Tag Challenge

Here's the link for our current challenge (Blogger and Inlinkz is being rather naughty - sorry for the inconvenience!)

Our winners!

Hello and a big thank you to everyone who entered our Design Team inspired challenge! It was fabulous seeing so many beautiful creations, and your takes on the originals!

So let's announce our winner shall we?! And the winner is...

Here are your random numbers:

21

Timestamp: 2011-09-19 16:53:03 UTC
(Random.org)


... Victoria! Congratulations Victoria! Please email your postal address to apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.co.uk and we'll get your prize shipped out to you asap!

Choosing our Passionistas was (as always!) a difficult choice but in the end we settled on these three fabulous creations:

1) Maureen - We just loved Maureen's take on a Dawn McVey card - she really injected her own style to the project and layered some beautiful elements - lovely!

2) Lee - Lee's project jumped off the page at us! She has used a Nichole Heady to inspire her to craft a beautiful tag book - just look at the work that has gone into every page!

3) Beverley - Bev's card is sure to brighten up anyone's day! Check out the layered butterflies that are stitched onto the card!

Congratulations on your inspiring creation ladies! If you would like to have our Top 3 Passionista blinkie for your blog just email us at apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.co.uk and we'll send you the code.

Don't forget to check back tomorrow for an all-new challenge!

Kate, Aimes & Caryn xxx

Challenge: Design Team Inspiration

Hello folks and welcome to a brand shiny new challenge here on the A Passion for Papertrey Blog.  It was fun to have an anything goes challenge last time and we enjoyed a record number of entries too.

Our new challenge for the next fortnight is to find a card or project created by one of the amazing Papertrey Ink DT members and let it inspire you to create something from it.  It doesn't have to a direct case of the card or project but we do want to see how it inspired you.  With such awesome talent to choose from I can't wait to see what gems you all come up with.

The hardest part about this challenge is picking just one talented lady to emulate - unles you want to try them all - no limit to how many times you enter!!!  I chose the queen of PTI herself, Nichole Heady.  She created this card back during the May 2011 release and I loved the simplicity of it.

And here is the card I was inspired to make:

{Recipe}

Stamps: Damask Designs, Butterfly Dreams
Card: White, Kraft
Ink: Versamark, Scarlet Jewel, Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: Black fineliner, Gems, Butterfly die

Over to Aimes:
The Papertrey Ink DT member I chose to be inspired by is Lisa Johnson. I've always been a fan of Lisa Johnson's work - in both her creations and the stamps sets she's designed!

After admiring her gallery, I finally decided upon this card as my inspiration point:

I know. I'm a sucker for green :)
And here's my card:

I kinda stuck to the layout and colours but just mixed up the stamp sets a bit (gave me the perfect excuse to ink up some new PTI stash *wink*)

Card Deets
{Thank you for your kindness}
All Papertrey Ink Supplies Unless Stated
Stamps: Peaceful Garden, Iconic Images (Sentiment)
Ink: Versamark/Rich Cocoa (Memento)
Cardstock: Ripe Avocado, Fine Linen
Accessories: Dark Chocolate Grosgrain Ribbon, Wooden Buttons, Linen and Canvas Impression Plate (Papertrey Ink)

Over to Kate:..."If I ever need inspiration I head straight for one DT member  - Maile Belles. I love everything about her style and she never fails to inspire me. This is the card I chose:






And here is my take on it:

Card Details:
Stamps: Aloha
Card: Vintage Cream/Dark Chocolate
Ink: Memento black, Dark Chocolate
Other: Vine Die, Argyle Impression Plate, Copic Sketch Markers, Corner Chomper

And the prize this time?  A cute little Fruit Fusion: Cherries stamp set!

Here are the deets

* All entries must contain at least one PTI product to qualify (please state what is PTI as sometimes it's hard to see :D)

* All entries must be newly created (well, new to Blogland anyways!).  Please don't link to old posts that might happen to fit the brief of the challenge!!

* To enter, use our inlinkz thingy at the bottom of this post. 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, September 19th 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 - wonder who the most cased design team member will be!

Caryn, Aimes & Kate

Winners!

Well, I can't say it's a surprise but boy was that a bumper lot of entries for our last challenge!! Thanks to all who played along.

So without further delay let's see who's won that dinky little PTI stamp set......


35

Random numbers generated Sep 5 2011 at 22:33:44

So that means our winner is  Karin!  Yay for you hunny!  Get in touch with us so we can sort you out with your prize.

Now for our Passionistas.  Well I don't think it's ever been harder what with just so many yummy entries to choose from.  In the end we all loved these three stunning entries...

Debby - We had to look twice to make sure that flower wasn't printed!!  What stunning stamping Debby and a winning colour combination.

Lorena - Those little felt flowers are just gorgeous and what a creative way to make a card that's also a gift!!

Karin - Beautifully arranged and a great combination of stamp sets and dies.

Girls these cards really blew us away so please get in touch if you'd like to sport our blinkie on your blog.

Don't forget to come back tomorrow for our brand new "inspiring" challenge.

Hugs,

Caryn, Kate and Aimes xxx

Winners!

Wow!!!! Can you believe we had an amazing 34 entries for our past challenge, For the Boys! (Admittedly a huge thanks goes to Margaret C for getting us to that total with an amazing 10 entries - thanks for sharing all that enthusiasm and inspiration with us!) Thanks to everyone who entered; I know we've got our mojo back on track when it comes to the guy cards now :)

But you're not here to talk numbers now, are you? You want to know the winner of course!

Do your stuff random.org:


Number 10 is super lucky for Vannessa! Congrats Vannessa - you've just won yourself a sweet stamp set! Email us your postal addy to apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.co.uk and we'll get that set out to you ready for inking!

As you can imagine, with so many entries (all of them fabulous!) it made choosing a top 3 even harder than usual. We're not used to having to work our brains quite so hard for this task! But after much consideration, we've narrowed it down to these three projects:



Lynn wowed us with her fabulous inking technique! Not only on those gorgeous leaves to capture them turning to their gorgeous autumnal colours, but the inking on the impressed woodgrain pattern too which gives so much character to a great card for the guys!

Jen grabbed us with that juicy apple! Catering for the younger guys with this card, we loved the cool colour combo along with the fitting use of those background strips for the overall theme!

Wendy's waves waved to us on her cute card! The way she used a die to create a stencil to ink those waves is a fabby idea and perfectly executed with that super fun wale and sentiment :)

Congrats, ladies! If you'd like the Top 3 blinkie to blink with pride then pop us an email with 'blinkie' as your subject (otherwise you may end up in our spam folder!) and we'll get that code to ya!

Thanks to everyone who entered! I hope you can all stick around for our new challenge tomorrow - I have a feeling it's gonna be a challenge that everyone will be able to play along *wink*

Aimes, Caryn & Kate
xxx

Crafting on a Sunday.

Yes, for the first time in forever I have had some time to myself to craft.  Hubby and the kids are away in Angelsey and poor me is stuck here to run the business.  Now as we're closed on a Sunday I was left with two choices as to what to do with my time - clean the house and do the washing OR lock myself in my craft room with an iPod full of uplifting poptastic songs (loving Bruno Mars right now!!) and do something creative.  Seeing as the dishes still arent' in the dishwasher I bet you can guess what won!!!

Enjoy your weekend wherever you are.

Hugs,
Caryn xxx

Hello, hello....

...Aimes here. Reporting from a mountain.....of washing and chores!

As much as I love going on holiday, I always dread the return jobs of unpacking, washing, etc...After I've caught up with it all, I feel like I need another holiday LOL!

So I'm just popping by here to share a couple of 'hello' cards to assure you that I'm still here!

And here's another that proves that I'm on a bit of a sentiment-placement kick too!

Gotta love that Modern Basics set: I find that every time I play with it I can create graphic style cards that totally float my boat :)

Well it's Friday so I'm off to tackle more chores before hoping to have a nice relaxing (and inky) weekend!

Aimes
x

Card Deets
{Hello}
Stamps: Modern Basics (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: London Fog (Memento)/Sweet Blush (Papertrey Ink)
Cardstock: Stamper's Select White, Sweet Blush (Papertrey Ink)/Grey (Craft Supply)
Accessories: Pink Vintage Button (Papertrey Ink)

{Hello}
Stamps: Modern Basics (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Orange Zest, Lavender Moon (Papertrey Ink)/Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Cardstock: True Black, Stamper's Select White (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: Promarker (Letraset)/Fresh Snow Twill Ribbon (Papertrey Ink)/Chompy! (Corner Chomper - We R Memory Keepers)

Challenge: For the Boys!

Hello all and welcome to a new challenge here on A Passion for Papertrey! Now let me ask you - is there one type of card that you find harder to make than any others? One group of people you find it harder to create for? If I was to do a quick straw poll of the answers I'm guessing that the men in our life would be the answer!

So you've guessed it! Yes, the challenge this time round is for you to make a masculine card. Now remember you don't have to stick to traditional male colours, you can go as bright as you like... although maybe not pink?!

The colour scheme for the card I made for my dad's recent birthday  came from the carrot and orange cupcakes I made for him. I kept it clean and simple, going for a rosette idea with a matching cuppie topper. I'm afraid I can't take credit for those cute sugar carrots though, I have to thank Lakeland for them!


Card details:
Stamps: Tiny Treats Birthday
Card: Stamper's Select White, Orange Zest, New Leaf
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Other: Copic Sketch Markers, Double Ended Banner dies, Limitless Layers 1 3/4" dies, Arglye Impression Plage


Over to Caryn...

Stamps - Masculine Motifs (the stars), Big Birthday Wishes, Framed.
Ink: Hawaiian Shores, Terracotta Tile, Summer Sunrise.
Cardstock: Hawaiian Shore, Summer Sunrise, Terracotta Tile.
Other: Stars die collection, By The Numbers Die Collection Glossy accents.

This is the card I made for my nephews birthday recently. To be fair I think it could be for a girl or a boy so not sure if I'm not exactly sticking to the brief of a "male card"! (Hey, if Aimes got away with her "Sky's the Limit" card last time - I think I'm ok with this one!! - wink!!). I stamped the square frame from Framed and then found a pen (which matched perfectly!!) and filled in the gap - I couldn't make the gap work!! I then made a mask for the centre so I could randomly stamp the stars from Masculine Motifs around the outside. Although it can't really be seen in the photo the "4" is thick with glossy accents which makes it pop right off the card - shame you can't see it!!

Over to Aimes:
OK so August is the season of guy cards for me - seems like every guy in our family celebrates their special day during it! I've tried really hard to be organised about making the guy cards this year; I normally put it off until the very last minute!

Card Deets
{Happy Happy Birthday}
Stamps: Birthday Bash Sentiments (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Rich Cocoa (Memento)
Cardstock: Vintage Cream (Papertrey Ink)
Patterned Paper: Bitty Box Basics - Ocean Tides (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: Cuttlebug (Provocraft)/Linen and Canvas Impression Plate (Papertrey Ink)/Nestabilities (Spellbinders)

Here's a super simple CAS guy card. Ha! Now I look at it, it's very similar to Caryn's! Well I guess we both go to show that CAS can work for the guys and gals!


And here's the super-cute mini PTI stamp set that will go to the randomly drawn winner !

Here are the full 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. 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, August 22nd 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 - we can't wait to see what you come up with!

Kate, Aimes & Caryn
xxxx

Our winners!

Hi all! Thank you to everyone who entered our Sky's the Limit challenge and very well done on all of your fabulous creations! Shall we see who won?!

Here are your random numbers:

5

Timestamp: 2011-08-09 05:14:50 UTC

Congratulations Margaret C! Please send your postal address to apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.co.uk and we'll pop you prize in the post!


So onto our Top 3 Passionistas... a difficult job as ever, there were so many great interpretations of the 'sky' theme! But we finally narrowed it down to these three lovely creations:



1) Vannessa: Just look at Vannessa's gorgeous card! We love the way she used the tiled squares to produce her sky theme and how about those super-cute pink kites!!

2) Claire: Claire's card immediately caught our attention - clean and simple with those wonderful bright colours, such a cheery card and we just love it!

3) Dawn: Dawn showed us just how 'vintage' should be done! We loved her inking technique and layout - great job Dawn!


Well done ladies! If you'd like to blink with pride about being a Top 3 Passionista then send us an email and we'll the get the code to you!

Thanks so much for joining in our challenge - check back later for a fab new challenge!

Kate, Aimes & Caryn xxx

Drink in style!

Well we're officially over half-way through week two of my summer holidays - why do they fly by so fast?!?!

I'm just popping in with an idea that you may want to try out yourself:

Yup - stamping directly on to glass! I love the results so much that my guy is hiding every glass object we have for fear it'll get stamped on LOL!

Just a few pointers to spare you the endless time I spent working out how to get the best results:

• I used white Staz-On ink (it gives a nice frosted effect) but from then on gently handwash/rinse the glasses for future use!
  

• Ink your stamp up then stamp on scrap paper a couple of times before attempting to stamp directly on to the glass. Too much ink will make your stamp slip and slide uncontrollably on your glass resulting in a white splodge!

• Gently place the glass at one edge of the stamp and roll it across the stamp ensuring the stamp follows the curve of the glass.
  

• If you end up with a splodge - simply wipe away with a wet-wipe straight away, dry with kitchen towel and start again. You don't need to find a new glass!

This glass forms part of a trio of party projects with a butterfly and damask theme for the final round of Gallery Idol (still, have to pinch myself that I'm in it!)

You can check out more about the projects here and check out the fabulous 5 entries for the final round here. Fancy voting? Make your decision soon because voting ends at 7pm tomorrow (Thursday, UK time) and it's a tough decision to make!

Aimes
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{Drink in Style}
Stamps: Damask Designs, Tiny Tags (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Spring Rain (Papertrey Ink)/ Versamark/Opaque White (Staz-On)
Cardstock: Vintage Cream, Spring Rain, Fine Linen (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: Butterfly Punches (Tonic & Martha Stewart)/Tiny Tags Die, Ribbon Twine (Papertrey Ink)/Cuttlebug/ Alphabet Transfers (Doodlebug)

Pssst....

....just poppin in to say that Voting for the Semi-final of Gallery Idol ends today at 7pm (UK time)

I'd love to share my card (with detachable hair clip!) here but it doesn't feature much PTI this time around so you can check it out here if you're interested.....

....and if you wanna, then feel free to vote (I hear that you'd make a gal very happy if you vote for #9 *wink*)

Wouldn't it be cool to see a Brit actually in the final of a competition?! ;P

Whatever happens tomorrow I just want to take the chance to thank you all for your wonderful support so far! The only reason I've made it this far is thanks to YOU!

♥
Aimes
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