Summertime!

... and the living is easy!! Well it certainly is summer here in the UK, I can't remember it being this hot for a very long time!

For our new challenge we decided to celebrate this fabulous time of year by challenging you to make a summer themed project. You can use summer as your inspiration however you want - in the images, the colours or the design. As always the only stipulation is that you use at least one Papertrey product on you creation.
I know we normally have a few samples to show you when we set our challenges, just to get your creative juices flowing, but today it will be just me and Chris, our June featured stamper. Aimes has taken a few days away from the blog because of family commitments but will hopefully be back with a summer themed card for you later this week.

In the meantime here's my sample - I fell in love with the Aloha set the minute I saw it, and this is the first time I've inked it up. I just love that flower!


Recipe:
Stamps: Aloha/Background Basics - Retro (PTI)
Card: Stamper's Select White/Raspberry Fizz/Hawaiin Shores (PTI)
Ink: Memento Black/Simply Chartreuse (PTI)
Other: Rick-Rack die(PTI)/Copic Markers/Corner Chomper

Over to June's featured stamper, Chris:

"One of the best times of summer for me is when I can leave the suburbs of London for a day and go down to my folks in Oxfordshire for the day. Sitting in their garden and listening to the quiet and watching the red kites - suddenly you can look up and see the sky full of multi-coloured balloons making their way over The Downs. So here is a very simply card that reflects my summer:
Many thanks to Kate and Aimes for inviting me to be the featured stamper this month - please don't forget to have a go at my little challenge to make a round card and you could be the winner of a pile of lovely Papertrey papers!!"

So what summer themed card can you come up with - we can't wait to see!

Here are the details on entering the challenge"

* 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 12th 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 and Chris xxx

Our winners!

Happy Monday peeps! Thank you for all the wonderful entries we had for our one-layer card challenge - it was trickier than it sounded wasn't it! There were so many fabulous designs and ideas!

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


Here are your random numbers:

5

Timestamp: 2010-06-28 08:01:20 UTC

...Dawn! Congratulations Dawn! Please email us your postal address and we'll send your prize asap!

As always choosing our top three was tough, but we whittled it down to these fabulous designs:



1) Ingrid We fell in love with Ingrid's amazing wedding card - especially the way she used the Take Note frame around the heart and sentiment - just fabulous!

2)Deb Deb's card is the epitomy of true CAS style. Simple, stylish and striking - what more do you need in a card!

3)Lesley Lesley's gorgeous kraft card immediately caught our eye - we adore how she spiced up the one-layer idea by creating an aperture on the card front!

Congrats ladies! If you'd like the PTI Top 3 blinkie to show with pride on your blogs, please drop us an email at apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.co.uk and we'll email you the code!

Kate, Aimes and Chris xxx

Inspired by a Royal Hat!

This post is courtesy of our Featured Stamper for June, Chris!

No – its ok, you have come to the right place. Some people get inspired by glossy magazines with articles about beautiful rooms and great designs but me, I was inspired by Her Majesty! I was having my first caffeine fix on Saturday morning watching the TV when the Queen drove down The Mall on her way to the Trouping of the Colour and I thought “those colours on that hat go really well together”.

Lavender Moon, Spring Moss and Berry Sorbet are not colours I'd normally put together but I thought if they were good enought for a royal hat, surely they'd look ok on a card. I went with a round and a square card for this project using all Papertrey products in the corresponding colours.

I used the same colour ways for both cards using a mix of patterned papers and cardstock. I added in a hand cut label on the round one and a Spellbinders tag on the square. A few buttons and trim and they were done!

Supplies: Stamps - Round & Round, Autumn Abundance; Cardstock - Lavender Moon, Spring Moss, Berry Sorbet; Paper - Pretty Pastels, Bitty Dots, In Bloom, Bitty Box; Accessories - Butterfly die, Spellbinder labels, vintage buttons, ribbon, pearls.

I love to use Papertrey's designer papers and recently split several pads with a friend in the US. So to share the paper love around I thought we could have a little challenge! Round cards are a favourite of mine and I could use some more inspiration - so how about you make a round card using at least one Papertrey Ink product and post it to the linky thingy below. You have 2 weeks to enter and we will draw a winner on Thursday 8th July! Entries are welcome from all corners of the world and the prize can be shipped anywhere!

Please do have a go - you could be the lucky recipient of these 30 sheets of Papertrey DPs!

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

One Layer Challenge

Welcome to another challenge here on A Passion for Papertrey! This time we're going to strip it back and ask you to make a one layer card. I'm a huge fan of one layer cards, but they can be a challenge can't they?!

It can be easy to keep adding layers and embellishments but the art of one layer cards is keeping it simple which is often easier said than done! Remember you can use embellishments on your project but there must only be one layer :)

There are some real advantages to one layer cards - they're super quick to make, cheap to send, easy to mass produce if needed and don't use too many supplies. Have I tempted you to join in yet?!

For my sample I decided to go for a circle card, and that super cute car from the Enjoy the Ride set. I wanted a clean and simple design so simply stamped the car, coloured it with Copics and a white gel pen, and drew a circle around it to add a border. A touch of sponging around the edges with some Distress Ink and I was done!



Recipe:
Stamps: Enjoy the Ride
Card: Kraft
Ink: Memento/Antique Linen Distress Ink
Other: Copic Sketch Markers/White Gel Pen/Circle Nestabilities


Over to Aimes:
Eeek! One layer!?!?! Seriously?! Well Kate pointed out that since I am soooooooo busy at the moment and already behind on the PTI blog schedule, this should be a quickie card for me to make - nice try Kate, but not much can sweeten this challenge for me LOL!

So after some seriously failed attempts, here's what I came up with:

...and I'm still not totally satisfied but if you saw my failed attempts you'd be impressed with this one!

Card Recipe
Stamps: Turning a New Leaf/Daily Designs Sentiments
Ink: Versamark/Dark Chocolate
Card: Lemon Tart
Accessories: White Gel Pen/Corner Rounder/Dark Chocolate Twill

And here is our June Featured Stamper, Chris:

"I think that one layer cards are a real challenge – so often a case of right first time as they can be very unforgiving! For my card I used the Boards and Beams set – I love this set as you can dress it up or down depending on the occasion and the Christmas additions (Home for the Holidays) with the snow and wreaths make beautiful cards.

I simply stamped the images in Black memento ink onto Stampers Select white cardstock and coloured them in with Copic markers. I find it useful to draw a fine pencil line across my card so I can line up the house and fences and it’s easily removed after. I masked the fences to try and stamp the trees at slightly different heights.

The only drawback with using Copic markers on Stampers Select card is that they do bleed though to the other side – not great for a one layer card! I put a piece of pretty paper on the inside to cover it up – I hope that is ok for the challenge!"



Fancy challenging yourself to creating a 'One-Layer Wonder?'

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, June 28th 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 up with!

Kate, Aimes and Chris xxx

Winners (and an apology!)

Happy Tuesday peeps! I know, I know it's Tuesday; what about Monday you say? Well it's me, (Aimes) being super busy and awkward so please forgive both Kate and Chris as they're crafting to schedule unlike myself! Though I do hope you can forgive me too ;D


Before we set another challenge here (I promise we I won't keep you waiting much longer!) it's time to announce the winners from our chipboard challenge - that was a bit of a toughie don't you think, or was that just me?! Thank you to everyone who joined in, there were some inspiring and very original uses of chipboard!

So let's announce those winners shall we?!

The winner of the Papertrey Ink goodies is.....

Here are your random numbers:

11

Timestamp: 2010-06-14 11:16:59 UTC
(Random.org)

...Ann! Congratulations Ann! Please email your snail mail address to apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.co.uk and we'll send your PTI goodies to you asap!


And now for our Top 3 PTI Passionistas. Well the challenge was a toughie to start with, and so was picking the top 3. I won't keep you waiting though, here's what we agreed on:


Be(e) created this super chic and stylish card using a fabulous chipboard frame to accent her sentiment - what a fabulous idea!


Claire used a really interesting card fold and totally bilnged up her chipboard with Cosmic Shimmer spray. What a way to dress up your 'naked' chipboard!


Vicki totally coordinated this chipboard frame with her super fresh colour combo to frame the focal point of the card. Way to dig through your stash and make a super sweet card!


Congrats ladies! If you'd like the PTI Top 3 blinkie to show with pride on your blogs, you know what to do: Drop us an email at apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.co.uk and we'll email you the code!


Kate, Aimes & Chris
xxx

Chaos, Cosy Chairs and Cats!

Hey!

Hope your week's going well so far...it's not too early to start counting down to the weekend yet is it?!

It's been a crazy first week back at work so far and today's antics included the plasterboard ceiling caving in on me and a group of students! Don't worry, no-one was injured and most importantly I saved my cup of tea (JOKE! Well kinda; the students were my priority but I'll confess the tea came a close second LOL!)

So in between ceilings falling down on me, washing plasterboard dust outta my hair and being in the middle of the exam season, I'm not having much time to find to get inky at the moment. It's a good job I'm still playing catch up from half term's creative time :D


Would you believe as much as I love my On My Couch set, this is the first time I've inked up that sweet little kitty?! Oh it looks so comfy on that chair - it definitely won't be the last time he gets stamped though I feel he'll always be a black cat because he reminds me so much of my old cat Jo-Jo who I grew up with *happy sigh*

Card Recipe
PTI Supplies
Stamps: On My Couch/On My Couch Additions/PTI Anniversary Set - Round & Round
Ink: Spring Moss/Memento Black
Card: Kraft/Stamper's Select White/Spring Moss
Papers: Pure Poppy Bitty Dot Basics
Accessories: Promarkers/PTI Medium Scalloped Die/Cotton Thread/Pure Poppy Vintage Buttons/Fresh Snow Twill Ribbon

Here's hoping the next few days are slightly less dramatic than today! Wish me luck!

Aimes
x

P.S Don't forget, if you find a spare bit of time you can still enter our current challenge this week - it ends next Monday *wink*!

Cards for challenges (and fun too!)

Hey!

What a fabulous week it's turning out to be! Not only this super sunny weather, but also the fab time I had yesterday meeting up with some fellow PTI Addicts (Caryn and Taheerah) to have a girly night at the Trafford Centre!

Just sharing a couple of cards today for challenges that I just had to play along with and had lots of fun doing so in the process!

This was for the Embellish Challenge, which I personally think was thought of with me in mind LOL! Earthy tone, green, and the requirement of a butterfly on your project really got my mojo going!

Now I used a butterfly punch that I'm totally guilty of neglecting. I really should use the supplies I convince myself I NEED more often!

Card Recipe
Stamps: Around and About Sentiments/Polka Dot Basics II
Ink: Memento Black/Versamark
Card: Kraft (from stash)/PTI True Black and Spring Moss
Paper: PTI Bitty Box Basics Spring Moss/True Black
Accessoreis: Cuttlebug/Nestabilities/EK Success Border Punch/Tonic Butterfly Punch/Jute Ribbon Twine/Corner Rounder Punch/PTI Button

And speaking of challenge, here's another card I entered for a Paper Crafts challenge which was based on a sketch that I kinda followed....well I missed some of that sketch off but I still like the card *grin*!

I die cut a load of flowers from tissue paper that you get your precious PTI stamps wrapped in and layered them to make these pretty blooms.


I'm thinking of giving this to a happy couple who are about to get married very soon - it kinda makes me think of a wedding with all that white!

Card Recipe
Stamps: PTI Damask Designs
Ink: PTI Smokey Shadow
Card: PTI Stamper's Select White
Accessories: Cuttlebug/Nestabilities/Cuttlebug Flower Die/PTI Impression Plate/PTI Vintage Buttons/Hero Arts Pearls/Tissue Paper

Hope y'all having a fab week so far, I'm kinda sad it's Friday tomorrow; why is it that a week off just flies by and a week at work drags by slowly *sigh*

Aimes
x

June's Featured Stamper!

June is here, Peeps! I've no idea where the months are zooming to so fast but it's a new month so you know what that means here on the PTI blog....time for a new Featured Stamper!

We'd like to thank Marinette for being May's featured stamper - we've loved her samples she created for our challenges! Merci, Marinette!

Without further ado, let's introduce June's featured stamper who is....

Chris!

Chris has been a long supporter of our PTI blog and we're delighted that she agreed to be our featured stamper for this month!

We gave Chris the same toughie interview questions to get to know her a little better:

1)How did you get into papercrafting?

I took voluntary redundancy from a company I had been working at for 24 years and decided to take the summer off before starting a job hunt. My daughter Fliss said she’d like to learn to make cards so I searched for a class we could do together. We ended up at Blade Rubber Stamps in London at a class run by the fantastic Susie Jefferson and I was hooked! By the time she went back to school in the Autumn she had lost interest but I have carried on since.

2)How long have you been stamping for?

That class was 5 years ago and I’ve been stamping ever since - it’s gone so quickly and my bank account is much lighter!

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

While looking for inspiration on SplitCoastStampers I kept seeing this chatter about a new stamp company which was coming called Papertrey Ink - as soon as the first stamp set came out I just loved the simplicity of the sets and most of all how much I enjoyed stamping with acrylic stamps. I don’t think there is another company out there that produces such quality stamps, paper ribbon etc.

4)What would you say is your stamping style?

Style is so hard to define that I find that a really hard question, so I’ll go with what others say about my work – clean and elegant!

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

I get through Aqua Mist and Spring Moss the most but I dribble more over Raspberry Fizz!

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

It has to be Friends Till the End – I can colour it, cut it out, use it as a background stamp - the possibilities are endless. Of course it’s a flower set too which are my favourites.

7)Who is your PTI Idol?

It has to be Debbie Olson – she is a constant source of inspiration and her Copic marker work is just fantastic.

8)Where do you get your inspiration from?

I love hopping through the PTI DT’s blogs but most of my inspiration starts with a sketch so I turn to Mojo Monday to give me a kick start.

9)What’s your stamping dream?

It’s a simple dream really – to have more time to stamp! With a busy career and a family to care for, I snatch my stamping time from thin air! Oh and I dream of a craft room to stamp in!

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

You can find me at http://purple-peonies.blogspot.com/

Thanks so much, Chris! We're so looking forward to seeing Chris' work here on our blog and we're sure you are too!

Aimes and Kate
xx