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