Challenge - Forever Friends

So it's time to set another challenge here on A Passion for Papertrey - it comes round quickly doesn't it?!

Before we get to the challenge I wanted to share a photo with you. It's not often that Aimes and I get to meet up in person, but this past weekend was one such occasion! We met up with our blogging buddies (and fellow PTI fans!) Steph and Caryn for a girlie weekend - shopping, cocktails, and Eclipse.... such a fun weekend!

So here we are, the two Passion for Papertrey gals, in matching outfits no less!! (We were trying the same top on!)



With our weekend in mind, we thought we'd ask you to think about your special friends and make a card for one of them. There is something so special about receiving a card from a friend for no other reason than they are thinking of you! So our challenge is to create a friendship card, using at least one Papertrey Ink product.
For mine I used the super adorable Enjoy the Ride set, and matching die. I paper pieced part of the cars (very flower power don't you think!) with the gorgeous Beautiful Blooms papers, and coloured the rest with Copics. I'm in love with these cars!!


Recipe:

Stamps: Enjoy the Ride, Friends til the End
Ink: Memento black
Card: Stamper's Select White/Hawaiin Shores/Pure PoppyPapers: Beautiful Blooms
Other: Enjoy the Ride die/Rik Rack die/Copic Sketch markers


Over to Aimes:
"Seemed kinda fitting to have a friendship theme for our challenge this fortnight seeing as Kate and I had spent a fabulous girlie weekend together along with our other fabulous crafty friends, Caryn and Steph! For my sample, I decided to get comfy with my On My Couch set and On My Couch Additions. I just luuuuuurve those sets to play with; in fact I had so much fun that I made not one card, but two!Before you think I have some XL size stamps, these cards are a sweet lil' 2.5 x 4.25 inches big! I went for a subtle chair this time, stamped with Versamark which allowed me to stamp my sentiment over the top. The sentiment was orginally a long line of text but I just inked up each word at a time to create the lines of text.

I love these little cards - you use way less supplies on 'em with the added bonus that if you chop a PTI envie in half and stitch/glue the open sides together you'll create an envie for each card outta just the one envie! Just gotta love that!"

Once again our randomly drawn winner will receive this fabulous stamp set, Fly Away:




Are you ready to play along?! Here's 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, August 9th 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 xx

A winner!

Happy Monday!!!

This Monday means we get to start a new challenge here on the blog, but not before announcing the winner of our last challenge!! Thank you so much to all who entered our last challenge - we were so happy to see so many of you play along with us! So who will be winning that sweet little stamp set, Fly Away? We won't keep you in suspense any longer:

Here are your random numbers:

24

Timestamp: 2010-07-26 10:21:39 UTC

Ann!

Congratulations, Ann! If you could send us your postal addy to apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.co.uk and we'll get that sweet lil' stamp set out to you asap!

Now for our Top 3 PTI Passionistas. Well it was kinda cool that we were both together in person, drooling over playing on the new iPads in the apple store at the weekend to discuss the entries! It was a real toughie with so many fabulous entries but without further ado, we decided on the following:

Katie - We both loved Katie's bold and graphic design on her card. That die cut really takes the centre stage on this creation, contrasting against the bold, gorgeous, raspberry fizz panel. Simply super!

Mandy - How can you not resist such warm homely colours, along with a comfy chair and fabulous pun to go with it?! We agreed that this card was so sweet along with a fabulous layout and a great use of DPs!

Rosanne - This whimsical design made our heart's really skip a beat! We loved the the fun use of DPs for different elements of the card and the non-traditional kraft coloured clouds really add to the fun, whimsical theme!

Congrats ladies! If you would like a blinkie to blink with pride on your blog, email us at apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.co.uk and we'll email the code right back to ya!

Thanks so much to everyone who participated in the challenge - we really appreciate your enthusiasm and support! I hope you can all play along with our next challenge which we'll be introducing very soon!

Aimes & Kate
xx

Birthday cupcake

Happy Friday everyone! Apologies for my absence from the blog but life has just got in the way recently - thank you Aimes for holding the fort while I've been away!!

I've just got back from staying with friends in London - it was my best friend's birthday and as she has her own cake-making business I thought the fab cuppie from Baby Button Bits would suit the occasion (plus I got to indulge my love of Hawai'in Shores!)

This is the first time I've cut into my Beautiful Blooms papers - aren't they delicious?!



Recipe: (all PTI unless stated)
Stamps: Bitty Baby Blessings/Vintage Picnic (sentiment)
Ink: Memento black
Card: Stamper's Select White/Pure Poppy/Hawai'in Shores
Paper: Beautiful Blooms
Other: Copic Sketch Markers/ Circle Nestabilities/Hawaiin Shores ribbon & button

I'll be back in the next few days with my card for our current challenge (better late than never right?!)

Hugs, Kate xx

A little 'Die' crazy!

Happy Wednesday! Half-way to the weekend and it can't come soon enough! These last two weeks of term are seriously dragging by for me; I'm ready to break up, the students are ready to break up and I even think my stamps are ready for me to break up; I'm sure I can hear them calling me to go play with them. Either that, or the stresses of work are sending me crazy LOL!

So as promised, I've found time to take a pic of the second card I created for our current challenge. I'll warn you, it's a completely different style of card from my first card and it's gone a little 'die' crazy:

Card Recipe
Stamps: Background Basics: Text Style/Turning a New Leaf/Butterfly Dreams
Ink: Momento London Fog/Spring Moss/Versamark
Card: Hawaiian Shores/Stamper's Select White/Plum Pudding/Grey (from stash!)
Accessories: Simply Chartreuse Felt/Purple Felt/Medium Scallop Die/Butterfly Die/Nestabilities/Cuttlebug/Detail White EP/Glitter/Rustic Twine/Hawaiian Shores Vintage Button

Y'see I wasn't lying; this card features a total of three different dies, two of them being PTI ones! Just goes to show that you can enter our challenge no-matter what style of cardmaker you are *wink*

I'm going to be honest and say that I'm still not 100% about whether I like this card or not...but still, it's bright and summery and that's more than can be said for the miserable weather outside my window at the moment. Rain and thunderstorms...it's starting to look more like the typical British summer by the minute!

Aimes
x

Challenge: To 'Die' for!

Ready for a new challenge? I thought so!

Don't be confused by the title of our new challenge; it's just me being a fan of a cheesy play on words! For our latest challenge we want to see creations that feature the use of Dies. So many of us now own die-cutting machines, and it seems that so many companies (including Papertrey Ink) have released their own dies to co-ordinate with stamp sets, (and in some cases stamp sets that co-ordinate with dies from other companies) that it seemed appropriate to set a challenge based on 'em!

Now don't feel that you've gotta use a PTI die on your creation - remember that your creation only needs to use a single PTI product to qualify for entry to our challenge! Oh and you're not limited to cards either ;D

Now it's my turn to host alone this fortnight for now as my partner in PTI crime, Kate is kinda busy! If she finds time, I'm sure she'll provide a fabulous creation later. Seems like July is a rather busy month for both of us!

Anyways here's my example for the challenge:

Card Recipe
Stamps: Star Prints/Background Basics: Text Style/Fancy Flourishes/Daily Design Sentiments/Vintage Labels
Ink: Dark Chocolate/Versamark
Card: Vintage Cream/Kraft/New Leaf
Accessories: New Leaf Twill Ribbon/Clear EP/Cuttlebug/Nestabilities

This card was made for my very own honey's birthday last Friday, hence the super simple design! And as you can see I used a load of stamps sets on what seems like a very CAS card, along with my Nestabilites rather than a PTI die. I do however have another example to share with y'all later this week that features many PTI dies on one card - stay tuned for that when I find time to photograph it LOL!

Here's Kate: " I'm really leaning towards vibrant summer colours this week - no doubt an antidote to the pouring rain! I used my On my Couch set and matching die for the cute polka dot chair":



Recipe:
Stamps: On my Couch
Card: Stamper's Select White/Raspberry Fizz
Ink: Raspberry Fizz/Summer Sunrise/Aqua Mist/True Black
Papers: Bitty Dot Basics 2009 - Summer Sunrise
Other: Raspberry Fizz ribbon/Labels One dies

Wanna play along but wondering what to do if you haven't got a die-cutting machine?! How about finding a crafty peep to post you a few die-cut shapes to help you out?

So what's in it for you if you play along? How about a super sweet PTI stamp set?


Yup, the winner will receive the sweet stamp set, Fly Away!

So, you ready to play? Here's 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, July 26th 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.

OK crafty peeps, go get die cutting!

Aimes & Kate
xx

A Winner!

Happy Monday! Hope y'all had a good weekend!

Today it's time for a new challenge which means we get a draw a winner for our past, summertime challenge! What a fabulous response we had to the challenge - I'm definitely ready for summer now and loved every one's interpretation of summer!

OK I won't hold you any longer - time to draw a winner......

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

Here are your random numbers:

13

Timestamp: 2010-07-12 20:22:41 UTC

Number 13. Unlucky for some, but very lucky for Claire who's just bagged herself some PTI goodies! Congrats Claire! Could you please email us at apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.co.uk and we'll get some goodies out to you!

Here's Claire's fabulous card - you just can't beat juicy cherries in the summer (well, maybe with strawberries but cherries definitely come a close second LOL!)

And now for the tough task of picking our Top 3 PTI Passionistas....this was extra tough because I had no Kate to help me, she's trusting all judgement to me this week but I'm sure she'd agree on the following 3 cards:

Helen - Well what's summer without a beach, eh?! I love the way Helen created this beach scene and what really impressed me is the way she used Scattered Showers to create the scene - genius!

Monica - Oh what a clever idea! I love this shaped card! The use of buttons for seeds is fabulous but check out the awesome use of embossing to create the different textures of the watermelon; I mean who would have thought a halloween embossing folder could be used for a watermelon?!?!? A totally mouthwatering card!

Sarita - The inspiration may have come from a gorgeous hanging basket but this card reminds me of sultry, Arabian nights with that colour combo! Simply divine!

Congrats ladies - if you fancy a Top 3 blinkie to blink with pride on your blogs then pop us an email and I'll email you the code!

Thanks so much to everyone who joined in this challenge. I really hope you can play along with our new challenge which I'm about to publish very soon.....

Aimes
x

A Winner!

I'm back again! Why so soon, you ask? Well to draw a winner for the fabulous circular card challenge set by Chris of course!

So who will be the winner of these fabulous Papertrey Ink papers?

Drumroll, please....

Here are your random numbers:

11

Timestamp: 2010-07-08 14:49:35 UTC

That means that Anja is our winner! Congrats, Anja! Send us your postal address to apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.co.uk and we'll forward your address to Chris to send you those lovely papers!

I'm sure you'll join us in thanking Chris not only for her generosity of the challenge and prize, but for being a fabulous featured stamper for June too! As you can tell, life has distracted us from featuring a stamper for July, but we'll be back on track next month!

Oooh and before I go, yes, I will feature a tutorial on the butterfly I made for this card if you really want one! Just gimme some time to work out how to record from my camera LOL!


Aimes
x

Normality...

...I'm nearly back to it!

I'm so sorry that I've been too busy to blog/create recently. As you may or may not know my family and I have had a couple of stressful weeks with my dad going in for major heart surgery. The good news is that although there were some scary times, he's now home safe and sound. It's a long recovery process but things are starting to get back to normal around here...

...so what does normal mean for me?! Well getting inky of course! So I've managed to create a card for our current challenge - big hugs and thanks to my PTI partner in crime, Kate for holding the fort whilst I was MIA!

I couldn't resist indulging in some Hawaiian Shores for my summertime creation - I love it! I only wish the weather was more in the spirit of summer when I took this pic LOL!

That butterfly was cut using a PTI die and my Cuttlebug from a sheet of thin metal. It cut like buttah! The embossing was done after, and glossy accents proved a fab glue to fix it to the ribbon. I love how I can bend the wings into shape to add that extra dimension; I don't think this will be the last metal butterfly you see from me *wink*

Card Recipe
PTI Supplies
Stamps: Friends 'til the End/Background Basics: Text Style
Ink: Hawaiian Shores/Spring Moss
Card: Hawaiian Shores/Stamper's Select White/New Leaf
Papers: Green Boutique
Accessories: Metal Sheet/Cuttlebug/PTI Butterfly Die/Swiss Dot Embossing Folder/Hawaiian Shores Ribbon/EK Success Border Punch

So that's my sample for our current challenge - I hope you can play along too! Oh and if you're reading this very soon after me publishing it, there's still a few hours to play along with Chris' fantastic challenge in which you can win some fab PTI DPs!

Aimes
x

Featured Stamper Post

This is my last post as the featured stamper for June (just a little late too!) - where did the month go?

I am just loving aperture cards that I am seeing all over and so this is my take on them.

I used Plum Pudding, Pure Poppy and Hibiscus Burst as my pallet, and coloured in the violets with Copic markers in the same colour range.


It's great to be able to mix and match the sentiments from the Year of Flowers sets; the sets are so versatile so you can colour to your heart's content or paper piece them too using patterned papers.

Many thanks to Kate and Aimes for the invitation this month!

Chris
x

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
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Chippy Chip Chip!

Happy Bank Holiday Monday, Peeps! Y'all ready for a new challenge?! I hope so!

For this fortnight's challenge we want you to think about using Chipboard. Chipboard comes in all sorts of forms, be it chipboard letters, shapes, shapes cut out from chipboard with a die cutting machine and even Grungeboard counts as Chipboard! Don't have any chipboard?! Nonsense - just cut up a cereal box LOL!

For my example, I rooted through my stash for some 'Chippy Chip Chip' supplies and found some K&Co super sparkly letters that I'd been hoarding. No time like the present to de-hoard so I got busy:
Here's Kate: "I really struggled with this challenge! I think my mojo had gone walkies yesterday when I sat down to make my sample, but eventually I had an idea that I was quite happy with!

Rummaging through my chipboard collection I came across these wee flowers which I thought would go pretty well with this stamp from Everyday Button Bits. I coloured them with my Copics, and added a pearl to their centres. How much am I loving that Dotty Biscotti paper?!"



Recipe (all Papertrey Ink unless stated)

Stamps: Everyday Button Bits
Ink: Colorbox Chalk
Card: Kraft/Aqua Mist/Stamper' Select White
Papers: Dotty Biscotti
Other: Chipboard flowers (SU)/ric rak die/adhesive pearls (Hero Arts)

And here is the fabulous card by Marinette, our May Featured Stamper:

"On my chipboard I added dabber paint red and then glitter glue, I also added on my card 2 chipboard corners by Scenic route and American Crafts chipboard thickers Cupid"








Recipe

Stamps: Signature Greetings (PTI)
Card: Kraft
Papers: Be Loved (MME)
Other: Chipboard Maya Road/Chipboard Corner Scenic Route/Envelope Maya Road/Die Cuts Be Loved(MME)/Chipboard Thickers Cupid(American Crafts)

Fancy 'chipping in' and playing along - tee hee?! 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 14th 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.

OK Peeps - root out that chipboard and get crafty!

Aimes, Kate and Marinette
xxx

Our winners!

Thank you for all the wonderful entries to our Favourite Colour challenge! It was fabulous to see so many different colours used! I noticed that we had quite a few lovers of Kraft and Pink and that some of you found this challenge a toughie - don't worry, saying a colour is your favourite won't hurt any of your other colours - I promise!

So we have a winner, drum roll please......

Here are your random numbers:

18

Timestamp: 2010-05-31 08:53:32 UTC
(Random.org)

....Vicki! Congratulations Vicki! Please email your postal address to apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.co.uk and we'll send your prize asap!

Now onto our Top 3 PTI Passionistas. I won't lie, it took Kate and I a loooooong time to narrow it down to just 3 but after a lot of ooooohing and ahhhhing we finally decided on the following:


Chupa - we instantly fell in love with Chupa's fabulous use of Dot Spot; that white embossing really makes it 'pop' against the Hawaiian Shores card! And who can resist the cute pairing of that colour with some sweet pink buttons - adorable!

Hanne - We loved the pairing of two neutral colours to create this baby gift set - suitable for both a boy or a girl! The idea to recreate the card on the bag makes it coordinate beautifully!

Aga - what a fabulous CAS card! It's so clean and fresh with those shades of green combined with the white. We loved how circular panel only showed a part of an image leaving the last panel for the sentiment - what a fabulous design!

Congrats ladies, if you fancy a blinkie for your blog then email us at apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.co.uk and we'll email you the code!

Thanks again to everyone who entered, we loved each and every entry! Stay tuned for our new challenge coming up very soon.....

Aimes, Kate and Marinette
xxx

P.S Gabi, could you email us your postal addy please?! You won a challenge a few weeks back and we need to send you some PTI goodies!

Catching up!

Hi everyone! It's Kate here and my turn to apologise for not updating my side of our blog! Things have been so hectic recently but I've finally had time to sit down at my computer and post a few PTI cards on here:

A birthday card for a special friend who loves all things green and teapots - every time I use this set I fall in love with it again!



Recipe: (All Papertrey Ink, unless otherwise stated)

Stamps: Tea for Two/Vintage Labels
Card: Kraft/Vintage Cream
Paper - Pretty Pastels
Ink - Spring Moss/Antique Linen Distress Ink (Spellbinders)/Memento Black
Other - Labels One Dies (Spellbinder)/Sewing machine/Vintage Cream Buttons

Sadly I had to make a sympathy card for a friend recently:



Recipe: (All Papertrey Ink)

Stamps - With Sympathy/Mega Mixed Messages
Card - Vintage Cream/Plum Pudding
Ink - Ripe Avocado/Plum Pudding/True Black
Ribbon - Ripe Avocado

This week was my dear friend Emma's birthday - a great chance to break out my new Enjoy the ride set - oh my this is SUPER cute!! I made her a matching notebook die cut with the Tabbed Mini Book Die. I love the colour combo of Hawai'in Shores and Melon Berry!



Recipe: (PTI unless stated)

Stamps: Enjoy the Ride/Fresh Alphabet/Polka Dot Basics/Journalling Lines
Card: Stamper's Select White/Hawai'in Shores/Melon Berry
Ink: Hawai'in Shores/Melon Berry/True Black
Ribbon & Buttons: Melon Berry
Other: Felt/Cuttlebug Flower Dies/Copics/Enjoy the Ride Dies/Circle Nestabilites(Spellbinders)/Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Embossing Folder

The card:



The notebook:



Thanks for looking today - we'll be back tomorrow with a brand new challenge!!

Kate x