A Winner!

So as a new challenge starts, our Scrapalicious challenge ends. But don't be too sad, because that means it's time for a winner!

Drumroll please.....

Here are your random numbers:

20

Timestamp: 2010-11-29 17:37:17 UTC

Which means that Rachel has just won herself a sweet li'l stamp set! Congrats Rachel! Email us your postal addy to apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.co.uk and I'll post that set out to ya this week if the snow doesn't stop me! LOL!

Now onto our Top 3 Passionistas. Well you certainly justified to me that I should keep every single scrap of anything and not only that, but I should use those scraps too! Your creations were fabulous and after some tough decision making, our Top 3 PTI Passionistas are:

Mandy -wowed us with this super sweet card and proves that it's worth keeping every single scrap of DP from a paper collection as they still work so fabulously together!

Claire - went for a super CAS style card and shows that scraps totally work for CAS creations. We love the soft colours and fab design!

Rachel - created a gorgeous Christmas card and even stamped on her scraps to decorate a tree! Check out the fab use of DP for the grounding of the tree too.

Congrats, ladies! If you want a blinkie to blink with pride on your blog then pop us an email and I'll let you have the code!

Here's hoping you can all play along with our fab new challenge....I really hope you can so I can get a good dose of inspiration for my own Christmas crafting *wink*

Aimes & Caryn

xx

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

OK Peeps! Ready for a new challenge?! Well we know how busy you all are around this time of year, so we've decided to keep this fortnight's challenge super simple. All we wanna see is a creation with a holiday/Christmas theme. That's right, if you haven't already, it's probably best you get a move on and create something for the holidays (and that includes any other religious celebrations such as Hanukkah too!) and we're hoping this challenge with give some of us, (me!) a nudge in the right direction *wink*!

Now don't restrict yourself to cards; anything goes for this challenge! Though I myself really needed to get a move on and actually make some cards before I can even begin to think of making anything else!

I like to keep things Clean and Simple (CAS) when it comes to Christmas cards. Not only is it my fave kinda style - it's fab for the mad mass production. I just change the colours every so often to keep my mind from going numb from repetition :D

So here's the first frosty li'l number:

Card Deets
{We Wish you a Merry Christmas}
Stamps: Holiday Signature Greetings, Fancy Flourishes (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: London Fog (Memento)/Versamark
Cardstock: Stamper's Select White, Spring Rain, White Shimmer Cardstock (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Snowflake Die (Provocraft)/Nestabilities/Lavender Moon Grosgrain Ribbon (Papertrey Ink)/Shimmer Chalks/Bling (Zva)/'Chompy' (Corner Chomper!)

And here's one that uses a more traditional Christmas colour combo:

Card Deets
{'Tis The Season}
Stamps: Holiday Signature Greetings, Fancy Flourishes (Papertrey Ink)
Cardstock: Pure Poppy, Simply Chartreuse, Kraft (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Fresh Snow,Vintage Cream (Papertrey Ink)/Versamark
Accessories: Glimmer Mist/Cuttlebug/Snowflake Die (Provocraft)/Nestabilities/Fine Linen Grosgrain Ribbon (Papertrey Ink)/Bling (Zva)/Promarker (To colour my clear bling!)/Chompy (Corner Chomper)

See what a difference simply changing the colours can make?! Now you can't tell on the pics, but there's lots of subtle shimmer going off, especially on that first card. Using PTI's Shimmer Cardstock adds that extra bit of Christmas magic IMHO, and Glimmer Mists are fab for added extra shimmer if you haven't got fancy cardstock to start with!"

Over to Caryn:

"I have gone for a clean and simple approach with this design - so I can easily mass-produce it!! The Tiny Treats: Christmas set means I can do loads of different versions of this without them all needing to be identical. I still have mountains of cards to do so anything that can reduce my workload is good in my book, lol. I adore using Kraft card at the moment and paired with one of my all-time favourite colour combos - Aqua Mist and Pure Poppy, I am pretty happy with the look. I added a teeny bit of my newest obsession, Pure Poppy baker's twine and an Aqua Mist button to add a wee bit of extra interest and to ground the focal image."



Here's Kate:

"Like Caryn I inked up my new Tiny Treats Christmas set for my sample - this has to be one of the most adorable sets ever! I used one of my favourite Christmas colour combos - red, white and kraft - a perfect match for those cute candy canes!"



Recipe:

Stamps: Tiny Treats Christmas/Peaceful Poinsetta
Card: Stampers Select White/Kraft/Pure Poppy/Scarlet Jewel
Ink: Memento Black/Colorbox Chalk
Other: Circle Nestabilities/Swiss Dots Cuttlebug Embossing Folder/Mat Stack No 1 Die/Corner Chomper/Fine Linen Buttons/Copic Markers

Over to our fabulous featured stamper, Bev!

"Christmas has arrived early in the North East of England with lots and lots AND LOTS of SNOW! After being a bit 'mojoless', the snow has certainly got me in the Christmas spirit! It's a good job as planning, as always, hasn't gone to plan when it comes to my Christmas cards! As always I still have tons to make! I needed some quick & easy cards that didn't use too much of my precious PTI supplies and this is what I came up with.


These little cuties are only 7 cm X 10.5 cm which means you can get 4 out of one sheet of card stock! I used some precious Pure Poppy felt on these 4 but when I go full pelt to cranking these out I think I will just use Pure Poppy card stock!

It's hard to see in the photo's but I used some PTI Shimmer card stock & coloured the images with Copic Spica pens to add some sparkle. Some Pure Poppy Bakers Twine and some snowflakes finished them off!

I hope I have inspired you to create some mini Christmas cards!"

Need more tempting to get crafting for Christmas? Well one randomly selected peep will win this super sweet stamp set, fly away!



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. 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, December 13th 2010 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 you get in the Christmas spirit too!
Aimes, Caryn, Kate & Bev
xxxx

Happy, Happy, Happy...

Saturday already! Can't quite believe how quick the weeks are zooming by, is it really only 35 days until Christmas?!?! Eeek! I've only made one Christmas card so far......

So in typical Aimes style, I'll be making Christmas cards on Christmas Eve no doubt. But I digress anyways as I'm sharing a Birthday card with you today and not a Christmas one!


A pretty bright colour combo for me but the recipient of this card was my niece who wouldn't appreciate my preferred muted colour palette. Don't tell anyone, but I actually enjoyed playing with such bright, fun colours; it certainly brightened me up!

Hope your weekend is super bright too, maybe just with the crafting if the weather where you are is anything like it is here in Sheffield today!

Oooh and if you've got some scraps to use up, then why not spend the perfect day crafting away with 'em for our current challenge *wink*

Right, I'm off to make a real start on some Christmas cards.....

Aimes
x

Card Deets
{Happy Happy Happy Happy Happy Birthday!}
Stamps: Birthday Bash Sentiments, Polka Dot Basics II (Papertrey Ink)/Ledger (Hero Arts)
Ink: Sweet Blush, Hibiscus Burst, Raspberry Fizz, Smokey Shadow (Papertrey Ink)/Versamark/Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Cardstock: Hawaiian Shores, Stamper's Select White (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: Hibiscus Burst Grosgrain Ribbon (Papertrey Ink)/Bling (Hero Arts) /Chompy (Corner Chomper)

A Winner!

Well you certainly didn't find creating anything but a card a challenge judging from the fabulous entries! Hmmmm....we'll have to make these challenges tougher LOL!

OK without further delay, it's time for Mr Random.Org to draw a winner:

Here are your random numbers:

19 

Timestamp: 2010-11-15 21:40:08 UTC

Which means that Margaret C is our winner! Congrats Margaret! Send us your postal addy to us at apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.co.uk and we'll send those goodies out to you!

And last but by no means least, time for our Top 3 PTI Passionistas.....



Carol - We loved the idea of hanging these sweet tags from a tree with your Christmas wish on. What a fun tradition, executed with fabulous style! Check out the super use of those star dies!

Monica certainly 'shivered our timbers' with these super treat boxes for a pirate-themed party! The use of the wood-grain impression plate really adds a subtle, but perfect detail to the booty-loaded-boxes!

Lesley made Candy canes even sweeter by decorating them with the super sweet Tiny Treats set. Now who wouldn't be able to resist this hanging from their Christmas tree! What a fun way to decorate a sweet treat!

Congrats ladies! If you need a blinkie to blink with pride then pop us an email (apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.co.uk) and we'll send you the code you need!

Hope you can all join in our new challenge!

Aimes and Caryn
xx

Scrapalicious!

Ready for a new challenge?! Well we wanna see what you can do with your scraps. Yup, that's right - you've been saving them forever, promising yourself that you'd use them for something and now is your chance. The moment to let those scraps shine! LOL!

Kate is off for a while dancing in Cuba. (No, seriously! She is! Lucky gal...hope she brings some sunshine and warmth back with her when she returns!) So that leaves Caryn, Bev and myself for this challenge.

I'll confess that although I'm a messy crafter, I'm meticulously organised when it comes to scraps. I have card, patterned paper and ribbon all in separate bags divided by colour. I'll scrimp and save the tiniest scraps of ribbon and that's what I focused on for this challenge.

Ribbon can be tricky - it frays, you need long strips to tie the prettiest of bows with it, so what do you do with the little bits that you're left over with? Well create your very own banner of course! I was inspired by the new PTI release and those banners in particular - *drool*


Card Deets
{It's a Celebration}
Stamps: Fancy Flourishes, Birthday Bash Sentiments (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Antique Linen (Distress Ink)/Rich Cocoa (Memento)
Cardstock: Fine Linen (Papertrey Ink)
Patterned Paper: Library Ledger Collection (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: Grosgrain Ribbon Scraps, Jute Ribbon Twine

I love that you could take this idea and create custom banners for any occasion! Just think, polka dots, satin, bitty dots or whatever colours you fancy - the possibilities are endless!

Over to Caryn:
Firstly, can I just say I LOVED this challenge! I have a drawer overflowing with the tiniest little scraps of PTI "waste" (gasp - can I say that??) and found it SOO liberating to make a use of some of those abandoned little treasures! Other than the base card which is Rustic Cream all the other bits and bobs came out of the scrap drawer. I already had the stamped frame and scallop border in there so that was my starting point - everything else just fell into place and I am right chuffed with the end result!

Now over to our lovely November featured stamper, Bev:
Like many crafters I find it hard to throw away scraps! I often die cut more shapes than I need when making a project and the ones I don't use end up in a box to use on a later project. Same goes for ribbon scraps, the little pieces after making a bow end up in the same box. I have to say it's not very often I go to the box to see what's in there! It's usually when I am faced with a challenge like this one that I go to the box!

After perusing Nichole's blog this morning the card she had made with the Hibiscus Burst & Scarlet Jewel colour combo jumped out at me as a fantastic colour combo and a combo I'd never attempted. I had a look in my now called 'scrapilicious' box and found these:

A while ago I was on a butterfly embellishment kick after seeing them on Dawn McVey's blog! I'd die cut loads of butterflies in an array of colours. The pink one using the Butterfly Dreams stamps and die was one I'd made for a set of Christening cards I'd made for a friend.

I used Nichole's card LO changing it slightly!

So have we tempted to you go rooting through your scraps?! I hope so! Remember that it doesn't have to be a card you create for your own entry - any paper-crafting project will count! And just to tempt you a bit more, up for grabs this fortnight for one randomly picked participant is this super sweet Fillable Frames stamp set #4:



Ready to play along? 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. 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, November 29th 2010 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.

So don't delay - root through your scraps today and turn something bland into something beautiful!

Aimes, Caryn and Bev
xxx

Button Love...

Happy Sunday! Hope you've all had a great weekend so far...maybe even squeezed in a few fireworks and got your teeth stuck around some bonfire toffee....*wink*

I'm stopping by today with a card that I've been itching to share on here for ages! So without further ado, here it is:


Would you belive that I made this card about a month ago?! This was made for my very own gorgeous guy to celebrate our 10 year anniversary on October 14th. No, we're not married but we count the years from that fateful night I made him ask me out he asked me out LOL!

This card certainly shows how much I love him so: I mean, who else could I create a card for using not only so many of my precious buttons, but my precious green buttons! Oh if only his favourite colour was Melon Berry: then I wouldn't be feeling slightly anxious about just how many buttons I used on his card...

Wishing you a relaxing Sunday!

Aimes
x

Card Deets
{Live laugh Love}
Stamps: Text Style, Round and Round (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Rich Cocoa (Memento)/Versamark
Cardstock: Fresh Linen, Kraft (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: Mixed Green Vintage Buttons (Papertrey Ink)/Cuttlebug/Concentric Hearts Die

Our winners!

Apologies for this post being a few days late - a family bereavement and work commitments unfortunately delayed this post. So it's finally time to announce the winners of our CASEd challenge! Thank you to everyone who took part, we loved browsing through all the entries and also the cards you chose to CASE!

So the winner is....

Here are your random numbers:

18

Timestamp: 2010-11-02 08:13:31 UTC
(Random.org)


...Linby! Congratulations Linby! Please let us know your snail mail address by emailing apassionforoppapertrey@yahoo.co.uk and we'll get your prize in the post asap!

As always it was difficult to narrow the other entries down to a top three but eventually we managed it - here are our Top Three Passionistas!



1) Gayatri - This card immediately made me want to ink up my Tree Trimming Trio set, we just adored the bold colour scheme!


2) Karin - Don't you just love this cute snowy scene? We loved how Karin used a kraft base and added that fabulous baker's twine too!


3) Dawn - Dawn chose to CASE one of Dawn McVey's stunning cards and created a beauty of her own, doesn't the landscape card work billiantly? I just love those butterflies too!

Congratulations ladies! If you'd like the Top 3 blinkie to blink with pride on your blogs, then drop us an email (apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.co.uk) and we'll email you the code you need!

Kate, Aimes, Caryn & Bev xx

Anything But a Card Challenge!

Hi Papertrey fans, it's Caryn here. Kate and Aimes have thrown me in at the deep end and have entrusted me with writing the post for our new challenge. Hopefully I won't miss out anything important - don't want to be sacked on my first week in the job, lol!!

So onto the challenge details. We want to see you create ANYTHING but a card. It could be a scrapbook page, a tag, gift packaging or any other creation you can think of - just not a card. All we ask is that you use at least one Papertrey Ink product in your design - simples!

When I found out what the challenge was going to be I decided I would create a gift to give my sister-in-law for my little nephew's baptism. I'm not a fan of the generic baby gifts you can buy in jewellers shops (you know, those little trinket boxes and ornaments - not my thing at all) so I bought an inexpensive box frame from Ikea and thought I'd make a little picture for his new bedroom (they are moving house after Christmas). Aimes has kindly loaned me her Tiny Treats: Valentine stamp set and I thought the cute little images in that set would be perfect for a little 1 year old.



I used a base of Pure Poppy card and the dotty distressed paper from the Pretty Pastels collection and my EK Success star punch to make the stars (from Vintage Cream card). The images are coloured with ProMarkers and the letters (my nephews initials) are stamped in Pure Poppy using a Banana Frog alphabet set.

Over to Kate: "I love stationery sets so I decided to use one of Lauren Meader's From The Desk Of' Timeless Templates to make a set of notelets to have on my desk whenever I need to scribble a quick note. Excuse the picture - I will take a better one in daylight!

Kate

Recipe:
Stamps: Take Note/Mega Mixed Messages/Round & Round Anniversary Set
Card: Hawai'in Shores/Stampers Select White
Paper:Green Boutique
Ink: Hawai'in Shores/Versafine Black
Other: New Leaf ribbon/Circle Nestabilities

Over to Aimes:
"Well life is pretty hectic still, so I'm gonna 'fess up that I'm featuring something for this challenge that I made the other week, but haven't shared here yet; hope you can forgive me!

I just adore these treat boxes - I think I'm addicted! So cute, so sweet and oh so simple to create! Now that's my kinda crafting when you can only squeeze in tiny amounts of inky therapy time!"
Treat Box Deets
{Thank You}
Stamps: Star Prints (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Black (Memento)/Antique Linen (Distress Ink)
Cardstock: Kraft, Raspberry Fizz (Papertrey Ink)
Patterned Paper: Dotty Biscotti (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: Cuttlebug/Treat Box Die (Papertrey Ink)/Star Punch (SU!)/Raspberry Fizz Button (Papertrey Ink)/Fineline Pen

And here's what our wonderfully talented Bev, our November Featured Stamper has created for us using some of the latest products:
For my 'Anything but a Card' project I decided to use some of my new PTI goodies. They are the Favour It 2 Box Die, The Limitless Layers Dies, Holiday jar Fillers and Holiday Tags 2010.






And so what can you win?



Some luscious Raspberry Fizz yumminess. 2 sheets of Raspberry Fizz cardstock, one sheet of each of the 12 designs in the Raspberry Fizz mix paper collection, 3 foot-long samples of Raspberry Fizz ribbon (Satin Dots, Satin and Twill) and a few Raspberry Fizz Buttons.

So here's the serious bit!!

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

* 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, November 15th 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, Caryn & Bev

Our November Featured Stamper!

Happy November peeps! So with a turn in the month it's time to introduce a brand new Featured Stamper here on A Passion for Papertrey but before we do that we want to extend a huge thank you to Debby for her fabulous projects during October. I'm sure you were as inspired by her work as we were!

And now, please give a warm welcome to our Featured Stamper for November....


Beverley Parish


We're delighted that Beverley will be joining us for the month! We're all big fans of her work and like us she's just a little but obsessed with PTI!! Beverley has long been been a supporter of the blog and were thrilled to meet her in person at our Make & Take a few weeks ago.

Let's find out a bit more about her shall we?!

1)How did you get into papercrafting?

As a small child I loved to create & make! I'd often sit and watch my mother & Nana sew and knit as they were both very creative people. My mother & I got into rubber stamping & making cards after a trip to a craft fair, not like the ones at the NEC but more of a country craft fair. My mum bought a woodblock stamp with a cats face, ink & embossing powder & then we were hooked!


2)How long have you been stamping for?

I must have been 12 or so when I got into stamping, so it'll be 20 years next year!


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

I first discovered PTI when I discovered blogging! That was in May 2008 just after my mother died. Dare I mention another rubber stamp brand...?! But it was through Hero Arts starting their blog that I became a blogger & found a world of inspiration & of course PTI

I love PTI because .....

1. They create clear stamps - I love to see what & where I'm stamping!
2. I like the clean graphic style of their stamps
3. I like how the sets all work well together
4. They produce good quality products!

4)What would you say is your stamping style?

I'm definitely a clean & simple kind of gal!


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

My favourite PTI colour & combo. Hmmmm this is a difficult one as I do love their colours! If I had to pick one it would be Raspberry Fizz. It was the first colour I bought! However my fave colour combo at the mo is Hawaiian Shores, Pure Poppy & White!

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

ONE stamp set you hear me cry! Lol! That's another toughie! I prob have to say In Bloom. It was one of my first of many!

7)Who is your PTI Idol?

My first PTI idol is Dawn McVey, she has my dream job & I find her very inspiring. After meeting Nicole at CHA I'd say both of them are my idols!

8)Where do you get your inspiration from?

Everything has a lil bit of inspo to me! But I love blog hopping, magazines and nature.

9)What’s your stamping dream?

I want to be Nicole Heady! I want to create my own rubber stamp brand / company & be as BIG and wonderful as PTI but here in the UK! I'm not far off from my dream so watch this space!

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


You can find me at www.littleshopofcrafts.blogspot.com


Welcome Beverley!

We'll be back later with a brand new challenge.. don't forget to check back then!

Kate, Aimes, Caryn and Bev xxxx