A PTI weekend!

Hello and Happy Monday everyone! We had such a wonderful weekend with Steph and Caryn at Steph's PTI Make and Take and can't believe it's over already! We all met at Steph's on Friday evening, and from the very first second got on like a house on fire!

Friday evening we all stayed up late putting the finishing touches to the packages for Steph's Papertrey Make and Take - here we are with Caryn doing some last minute stamping in Steph's AMAZING craft room!


Then Saturday morning came (after not much sleep lol!) and we were out the door early for some last minute food shopping for the afternoon, and on to the hall to prep for all our stamping guests!

There was 29 of us in total - here we all are raring to go!!


It was so fabulous to meet so many familiar faces from blogland!

Here's Claire:


Alex:


Judith:


Ally and Jeanette:


Kim (right) and our lovely friend Jo:


And finally here we are with Steph and our lovely friend Dawn - poor Dawn has been ill for several weeks so it was fabulous she could make it!


I'm sorry we weren't able to get pics of everyone but we were running around so much and just didn't get around to it! Steph and Caryn both have lots more pictures on their blogs too!

Steph had prepared some fabulous projects using Papertrey Ink products for the Make and Take - here's what we made:







The afternoon went way too quickly and sadly we had to say goodbye to everyone - thank you so much to everyone who came, especially those who made long journeys, hopefully you all enjoyed your afternoon and enjoyed playing with some PTI goodies!

On Saturday evening we had a girls night in - PJs, chocolate, champagne and chatting into the early hours!


On Sunday we were up early again to head to Bluewater for breakfast, a touch of shopping and .... NEW MOON!!! We are all HUGE Twilight fans having read the books very recently and had been bursting with excitement about it for weeks!

Here we are at breakfast:

(left to right: Aimes, Steph, Caryn and Kate)

Aimes and Kate


Aimes, Kate and Steph


Needless to say the film was amazing, and we all reverted to being hysterical teenage girls, (should have taken more tissues!)

Phew, what a wonderful weekend! Thank you so much to Steph for being such a wonderful host and for all your hard work and generosity, and to Caryn and all the wonderful ladies who came to the Make and Take!

Kate and Aimes xx

Raspberry Suite #19!

Hey!

I hope you've all had a wonderful weekend! Such a shame it flies by way too quickly for my liking - though I'm especially excited about next weekend! If you're wondering why, click here!

Today I decided to play along with Dawn McVey's Raspberry Suite Colour Challenge #19. Hard to believe we're on #19 already!
So these colours aren't the kind I'd stick together but that's what I like so much about these challenges! So I got thinking, and decided to use the picture of Dawn and Nicole posing beautifully in those gorgeous T-Shirts as my starting point:I hope you can tell where the T-Shirt is represented, otherwise I've gone wrong somewhere!

Still not sure about those buttons - they nagged me to be featured on this card but I'm not convinced they belong there! Well needless to say they're stuck down pretty firm so they're staying!

Card Recipe
Stamps: Fancy Flourishes, Friends 'til the End
Cardstock: Aqua Mist/Spring Moss Bitty Dot Basics/Stampers Select White
Ink: Spring Moss/Whispers Lovely Lilac/Raspberry Fizz/Aqua Mist/Dark Chocolate/Versamark
Accessories: Raspberry Fizz Polka Dot Ribbon (Reversed!)/Cuttlebug/Nestabilities/Detail Clear EP/PTI Buttons Holiday Mix

On more PTI news - Lauren Meader (who I adore - what a talented lady!) has decided to leave the PTI Senior Design Team! Though fear not, she's on a new adventure with her own store! I can't wait to see what PTI come up with in her place! Though Lauren could never be replaced, PTI always have such clever ideas up their sleeves so watch this space!

And finally, for all of you participating in the PTI ATC Christmas swap, you should have received an email by giving you the full deets! If you haven't received an email yet, please email us at apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.com so we can get back to ya!

Aimes
x

Blingin', Baby!

Hi everyone and welcome to another challenge, it seems to have come around so quickly!

This time it's all about the bling, baby! To join the challenge we want to see some bling on your cards - it can be any type of bling - gems, gliiter - so long as it sparkles, anything goes!!

The bling on my samples is quite subtle (so subtle I'm not sure you can even really notice it from the pictures lol!) - there are 3 rhinestones in the centre of the poinsietta, and the Flourishes are stamped in Versamark Dazzle Champagne ink which has a fabulous soft shimmer:



Recipe:
Stamps - Peaceful Poinsietta/fancy Flourishes/Signature Christmas
Card - Stamper's Select White/Enchanted Evening/Brushed Silver
Ink - Versamark Dazzle/Versamagic - Night Sky/Versafine - Black
Other - Rhinestones/silver ribbon

And a close up:


Over to Aimes... "Here's my attempt to bling up a Christmas Tree! Basically smothered it in Stickles and added some jewels coloured with my promarkers - BLINGIN!"

Recipe:

Stamps - Holiday Tree/Signature Christmas/Around and About Sentiments

Card - Stamper's Select White/Dark Chocolate/Pure Poppy/Rustic Snowflakes DP

Ink - Spring Rain/Spring Moss/Fresh Snow/Dark Chocolate

Others - Pure Poppy Polka Dot Ribbon/Spring Moss Button/Jute Button Twine/Stickles Crystal Glitter/Clear Gems Coloured with Promarkers/Nestability/Cuttlebug/White Gel Pen

Here are the details:

• All entries must contain at least one PTI product to qualify
  
• To enter, 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, but unfortunately prizes can only be shipped within Europe!
• Challenge closes on Monday 30th November at 9.00am GMT
• A winner will be chosen at random to receive a collection of PTI goodies!

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

Kate and Aimes xx

1. Katie
2. Dawn

A winner!

Hi everyone! Thank you for all the entries for our last challenge - they were all fabulous!

But there's only one winner and this time it's:

Here are your random numbers:

13

Timestamp: 2009-11-16 22:01:36 UTC

...Dawn!! Congratulations hun! Your PTI goody bag will be in the post very soon!

Our next challenge will be up very soon too!!

Kate and Aimes x

Remember...

In order to recognise Remembrance Sunday, I decided to ink up my Remember stamp Set today. I always find Remembrance Sunday to be a mix of emotions for myself. On the one hand, I'm truly grateful and eternally thankful for the freedom we have, whilst at the same time so saddened at the price people have paid for it....I won't get all political but I do think it's such an important time to stop and appreciate what we have!

So without further ado, onto the card:
Wanted to keep the colours very patriotic today! You don't know how tempted I was to add a bit of Ripe Avocado into the mix - it would have looked gorgeous! Not for today though, another time for sure!

Card Recipe
Stamps: Remember
Cardstock: Enchanted Evening, Stampers Select White, Pure Poppy Bitty Dot Basics
Ink: Memento
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Nestabilities, Pure Poppy Button, White Ribbon Twine, White Ribbon (stash), Pure Poppy Saddle Stitched Ribbon, Promarkers, White Gel Pen, Glossy Accents, Rounded Corner Punch

I'd personally like to remember to thank YOU! Kate and I are truly blessed to be a part of such a wonderful community here, and truly value your support! I can't tell you how excited I am about getting the chance to meet some of you 'for real' at Steph's PTI Make and Take! Which reminds me - I must pop off to buy my train ticket! LOL!

Aimes
x

Christmas ATC swap

*****ATC Swap List Now Closed!*****

Edited to add: This swap is open to European and UK stampers, I'm sorry we can not cater for our other international friends

Hi everyone! Are you ready for another PTI ATC swap?? I hope so! (ATCs are small pieces of art work that measure 2 1/2" x 3 1/2")

We're so grateful to our lovely lovely friend Dawn for offering to organise this swap - she's such a star!!!

So here are the details:

-The swap is Christmas themed, and all ATCs must use Papertrey Ink stamps. Products from other companies can be used for card, ribbon etc.

-You have until midnight GMT on Thursday, November 12th, 2009 to sign up for the swap

-Once we have names of everyone who wants to join in we will put up a post on how many swaps you will have to make. We will divide the swap into two groups if we need to - either way each participant will be making a maximum of 10 ATCs

-You will have until Thursday, December 3rd to send your swaps to Dawn. Once we've finalised the list we will give you Dawn's email for you to contact her for her postal address

-Anyone who is attending Steph's PTI Make and Take day on Saturday, November 28th is welcome to bring your swaps and give them to Dawn there

I hope that's everything! Please leave a comment below or send an email to apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.co.uk if you have any queries.

We can't wait to start making some festive ATCs!

Love Kate and Aimes xx

1. Dawn (Obviously! LOL!)
2. Kate
3. Aimes
2. Katiejane
3. Vicki
4. Lesley
5. Sharon
6. Hanne
7. Emma
8. SueK
9. Ann
10. Anne
12. Beverley
13. Kirsty
14. Linda

Challenge 17: Ho Ho Ho...!

Hey!

Everyone ready for a new challenge? I hope so!

For this challenge we want you to think Christmas! It's only 52 days away y'know - eeek! So this should be easy peasy for you stampers who are super organised (e.g Kate!) and a good kick up the bum to get the mojo going for highly unorganised cardmakers who have only made one Christmas card so far (e.g Me!) Plus, if you've had any recent orders from PTI I'll guess that they may have contained some seasonal goodies that will fit into this challenge perfectly ;D!

Don't feel the need to stick to cards; if you have something else crafty for Christmas hiding up your sleeve then feel free to enter it!

Here's my sample:Recipe: Stamps - Stocking Prints Ink - Pure Poppy/Ripe Avocado/Distress Ink Antique Linen Card - Kraft/Pure Poppy Bitty Dot Basics/Vintage Cream/Ripe Avocado Other - Ripe Avocado Grosgrain Ribbon/Pure Poppy Button/Rustic Jute Ribbon Twine/Nestabilities/Rounded Corner Punch

I'm totally inspired by a vintage theme today, but I'm hoping to do a mix of cards as I do love a fab and funky colour combo too when it suits the right recipient!

Here's Kate's sample, proving that you just can't go wrong with Pure Poppy and Kraft for Christmas:

Recipe: Stamps - Believe Ink - Fresh Snow/Memento black Card - Kraft/Pure Poppy/Stamper's Select White Other - Martha Stewart Lattice punch/New Leaf buttons/Copic Sketch Markers/White Gel Pen

I promise we made our cards separately without any clue what the other was doing - just goes to show that this colour combo is VERY suitable for Christmas I guess LOL!

So here's the deets:

• All entries must contain at least one PTI product to qualify (using a Lauren Meader Template counts as a PTI product btw!)
• To enter, leave a comment with a link to your post featuring the project on your blog
  
• Worldwide entries are more than welcome to share the inspiration, but unfortunately prizes can only be shipped within Europe!
• Challenge closes on Monday 16th November at 9.00am GMT
• A winner will be chosen at random to receive a collection of PTI goodies!
  

Have fun! I can't wait to be inspired by your entries to help kick my mojo into gear!

Aimes
x

1. KatieJane
2. Laurel (from the USA, thanks so much for joining us!!)
3. Beverley
4. Laurel (2nd Entry!)
5. Laurel (3rd Entry!)
6. Mandy
7. Beverley
8. Chris
9. Chris (2nd Entry!)
10. Lesley
11. Cathy
12. Cathy (2nd Entry!)
13. Kirsty
14. Dana
15. Vicki
16. Dawn
17. Ann

A winner!

Happy Monday everyone! Thank you so much for all the fabulous entries to our previous challenge - so much inspiration!!! And we have a winner -


Here are your random numbers:

7

Timestamp: 2009-11-02 09:56:57 UTC

(Random.org)

... and the winner is Mandy! Congratulations Mandy! Please send your postal addy to apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.co.uk and I'll put your PTI goody bag in the post to you!

Don't forget to check back this evening for another challenge!

Kate x

Happy Halloween!

BOO!
Did I scare ya?! LOL! Probably not but I was never good at tricking - I'm more of a treater than a trickster!

Talking of treats, my nieces and nephews should be in receipt of these treats today that I rustled up over the last week:Now I'm no Lauren Meader but I have to say I'm secretly proud that I managed to design this template myself so it held just the right amount of treats in! It's like a small popcorn box. Once I'd designed it on the PC, it was simply a matter of print onto PTI card, decorate and stick together! One thing I'd recommend is that you print the template onto the bitty dot basics paper too rather than trying to be frugal and use scraps - it took bloomin' ages to measure, cut and find scraps big enough!

Now there's no PTI stamps on these sweet treats, but all the basic supplies are PTI so I thought I'd share them with ya:

Orange Zest, Plum Pudding and True Black for the ghoularific gals:White, True Black and Orange Zest for the gruesome guys:
And a little scare and treat on the inside of each one:
Box Recipe
Cardstock: Orange Zest, Stampers Select White, True Black, Bitty Dot Basics in True Black & Plum Pudding
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Cuttlebug Halloween Die, Nestabilities, Orange Zest Polka Dot Ribbon, Orange Zest Button, White Button Twine, Velcro Dots, Promarkers, White Gel Pen, Chocolate Treats!

That's all for today! If you want the template to play with at all just get in touch either via comment or email - I'd be more than happy to share the creativity!

Oooh and remember there's still time to enter our Current Challenge - Goin' Dotty...!

Hope y'all have a Spooktacular Halloween!

Aimes
x

Yummy Colours...

Hey!

Happy Tuesday! This week is flying by for me! I've been busy busy getting all those jobs done that I can't do during term-time including taking my car to the garage and it getting repaired for FREE! That's right, F.R.E.E! What PTI goodies shall I purchase next month with the pennies I put aside for the car?! ;D

Today I'm posting my entry for Dawn's Raspberry Suite Color Challenge. I finally got to play along with this one and I'm so glad I did as I just LOVED working with these colours:I'll confess that I CASEd myself for this one! I really liked the layout of my anniversary card for my honey that I wanted to play with it again!Went a tad overboard with my Distress Inks I think! I wanted to a achieve a rustic/vintage look contrasting against the modern colours - not sure I quite got it but as it's stuck down it's stayin'! LOL!As I was playing with my Friends 'til the End set I figured I'd show you what I think is the cool difference between just stampin' on plain coloured cardstock with that gorgeous flower and adding detail with a Versamark Pen:Pretty cool huh?! I think it really brings that gorgeous flower to life and the best part is - it sooooooo easy to do! I do plan to trim around the plain flower more and add the same detail btw - I just got kinda bored cutting this for a second time in a day!

Card Recipe
Stamps: Friends 'til the End/Fancy Flourishes
Inks: Vintage Cream/Dark Chocolate/New Leaf/Raspberry Fizz/Distress Inks Antique Linen & Vintage Photo
Card: New Leaf/Dark Chocolate Bitty Box Basics/Kraft/Raspberry Fizz/Vintage Cream
Accessories: Raspberry Fizz Polka Dot Ribbon (Reversed)/Dark Chocolate Twill/Vintage Buttons Cream & Dark Chocolate/White Button Twine/Versamark Pen

And on another note entirely...does anyone fancy being a featured stamper here on the PTI Blog?! Have you got a creation you think is totally fab and you'd like to share the inspiration with us? Or do you just fancy showing us your PTI style? Pop us an email if do because I'd love to make it a regular feature and don't even dare think we wouldn't be interested in YOU because we ARE! I know there's loadsa blogs/galleries out there adorned with PTI goodness that I truly admire and frequently drool over!

Right then gotta dash, off for a hair cut - I've booked a restyle but I know I'll end up with the usual trim! Typical me!

Aimes
x

My First...

...Christmas card!

Yup, today I made my first Christmas card of the season! Pretty amazing for me as I usually start making them mid-December! The thing that made me finally get crafting for Christmas is the PTI Blog Hop. This month it's a Holiday Hop so everyone is sharing their creations for the Holiday season - I'm hoping to get a good dose of inspiration from this month's hop!

For my part of the hop I made a Christmas card:
This card was made using the super fun Stocking Prints set. This is such a fun set that I could be tempted to make many more Christmas cards well before December approaches!

Now this card isn't just a card...just pull out those candy canes and satsumas....

*****Ta-Dah!*****

Yup it's a Couch Surprise Card converted into a Stocking Surprise Card LOL! Had to fiddle a little with the original concept to get it to work for a stocking but it works! I have to say it made me giggle the way the sentiment worked with the idea - now that's my kinda stocking exchange LOL! The fireplace is hand drawn, I'm hoping the glitter I applied to make the flames sparkle will avert your eyes from my drawing technique ;D

Card Recipe Stamps: Stocking Prints Card: Pure Poppy/Ripe Avocado/Vintage Cream/Kraft/Vellum from Stash Ink: Pure Poppy/Ripe Avocado/Distress Inks Antique Linen & Vintage Photo Accessories: Promarkers/Stickles Glitter in Red and Crystal/3D Foam Pads/£10 note LOL!

This card will be for my bro - I certainly don't plan on making a load of 'em as I'd not only be poor but I'd have no time to go Christmas shopping! We always exchange some money and treat ourselves to something we really like. Put it this way, after we've both shopped for our family (7 nieces and nephews!) we're too pooped to find a gift for each other!

I hope you all had a super weekend (and an extra hour for us in the UK!) I'll be back soon as I've got the week off work and I'm hoping to get inky fingers - hurrah for half term!

Aimes
x

Diamonds are forever...

This was the hardest card to photograph as you can probably tell - it's much better in real life believe me!


Recipe:
Stamps - Damask Designs
Ink - Encore Metallic Silver
Card - Silver Shimmer
Other - Fiskars border punch/silver ribbon/silver embellished heart/adhesive gems/corner rounder punch

It was a commission from a friend to make a Diamond Anniversary card - I immediately thought of Damask Designs because it's such an elegant set. The background damasks were stamped with Metallic ink which is why I couldn't photograph it well! I couldn't help but add lots of sparkly gems - well anyone who's been together for 60 years (OMG!) deserves it I think!

Thanks for visiting and I hope you have a great rest of the weekend!

Kate x

Going Dotty

Good morning! I'm so sorry this didn't go up last night as promised but I couldn't get online - anyway better late than never, welcome to our new challenge!

For this challenge we're going dotty!! Polka dots to be precise - we'd like to see some polka dots on your creations, this can be polka dot stamps, dotty ribbon, punched dots, doodled dots or any other interpretation of polka dots you can think of!

To be in with a chance of winning a randomly drawn PTI goody bag create a project with polka dots on it that uses at least one PTI product.

For my sample I used the polka dot Christmas tree from the 'Tree Trimming Trio' set, and made it in three colourways - it's a simple design so great for mass production.

The tree was embossed with Versamark and White Embossing Powder onto Kraft card - the ornaments were punched out then covered with an clear epoxy stickers:

Recipe:
Stamps - Tree Trimming Trio
Ink - Versamark/Enchanted Evening/Aqua Mist/Sweet Blush
Card - White/Kraft/Enchanted Evening/Aqua Mist/Sweet Blush
Ribbon - Swiss dot - Enchanted Evening/Aqua Mist/Sweet Blush
Other - Epoxy clear stickers/corner rounder punch/whit embossing powder

Enchanted Evening:


Sweet Blush:


And my favourite (of course!) - Aqua Mist:



And here's Aimes' card - "made for my very own honey for our anniversary - he really is my star and he really does send me dotty at times ;D)"

Recipe:
Stamps - Star Prints/Fancy Flourishes
Ink: New Leaf/Dark Chocolate
Card - New Leaf/Kraft/Vintage Cream/Dark Chocolate Bitty Dot Basics
Other - New Leaf Button/Dark Chocolate Button/New Leaf Twill/Jute Ribbon Twine/White Gel Pen

To enter the challenge leave a link to your card in the comments section below by 9am GMT, November 2nd 2009. Your card must use at least one product from Papertrey Ink. While we love to see entries from around the world I'm afraid we can only send prizes within Europe.

Thanks and I hope you have some dotty fun!!

Kate x

1. Laurel (Thanks for joining us from the USA!)
2. Linby
3. Taheera
4. Valerie
5. Antje
6. Katie
7. Mandy
8. Lesley
9. Ann
10. Vicki
11. Laurel (with a FABULOUS second entry!)
12. Hannelobbestael
13. Dana
14. Chris

A winner!

Thank you so much to everyone who played along with our Autumn Challenge - what a fabulous collection of autumn-inspired cards! And we have a winner!

Here are your random numbers:

14

Timestamp: 2009-10-19 11:25:34 UTC

(Random.org)

.... Nina! Congratulations Nina - please email you postal address to apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.co.uk and we'll get your PTI goody bag in the post to you asap!

Don't forget to check back this evening for an all new challenge!

Kate x

A Freebie!

Hey!

Well I dunno about you but a freebie always grabs my attention LOL!

Now I do have something free for you but I'm sorry if you'll end up disappointed that it's not something physical or edible! Y'see this weekend I've been playing on the PC, being the true PC geek that I am! If you haven't already noticed, take a peek at the right hand side column of this blog or just look below and you'll see the result of my geeky session...



I've created a blinkie!

Now I know it's not amazing but I'm kinda chuffed that I managed to make it with only the tiniest amount of help from my resident geek, Chris ;D

If you would like to decorate your blog with this lil' blinkie and spread the 'Passion for Papertrey' then it's easy! All y'need to do is add the gadget entitled HTML/Javascript on your blog layout and copy and paste this piece of code into the text box:

<a href="http://apassionforpapertrey.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" > <img border="0" width="200px" alt="PTI Blinkie!" src="http://i921.photobucket.com/albums/ad56/Aimes_pics/pti.gif"/ > </a >

Now if you find that when you post it, the width is slightly too big just change the number 200 in the code to a smaller number, you can try as many different sizes as you wish (BUT DON'T CHANGE ANYTHING ELSE!):

If you have any technical problems just pop us an email and I'll try my best to help!

Hope you're having a fabulous weekend so far! Remember, there's still time to enter our current challenge!

Catch ya later with a new challenge on Monday!
Aimes
x

My Fab Friend...

OK, time to confess! Who got totally drawn in with the PTI release this month? Who spent way more than they could really afford and bought yet more Christmas stamp sets that they don't need?! LOL! I'll be brave and raise my hand (though don't tell anyone!) I've not even made a single Christmas card yet unlike the super-organised Kate!

Speaking of Kate, here's a card that I made especially for her! Anyone who knows Kate will know that she has an almost unhealthy obsession with anything turquoise and so PTI's Aqua Mist is bound to be in the spotlight when making a card for her!

Just a tip I thought I'd share with you when playing with the Friends 'til the End set. When I stamped my flower it looked pretty flat (yes, I know it's literally flat before you comment!) so to add more depth, I shaded it with a Versamark pen around the centre and any area I thought would be in shadow. I loved the effect it gave - wish I'd done a before and after pic but you'll just have to take my word for it! I also added a touch of sparkle (couldn't resist!) with a Copic Clear Spica Pen. It so preddy IRL though my photography skills can't catch it!

Recipe:Stamps - Friends 'til the End/Background Basics:Text Style- Card:Aqua Mist/Aqua Mist Bitty Dot Basics/Dark Chocolate/Kraft/Ripe Avocado Vintage Cream - Ink:Dark Chocolate/Versamark - Other:Aqua Mist Button/Vintage Cream Satin Ribbon/Crop-a-dile II/Gromlet/White Gel Pen/Copic Clear Spica Pen

Well another week draws to a close and I can't wait for the weekend! Nothing super exciting planned - just a chance to put my feet up and chill! If you're not busy this weekend then there's still time to enter our current challenge to win some PTI goodies - deadline is on Monday!

Aimes

x