Challenge - Inspired by a song!

Hello folks and welcome to a new challenge for all you PTI fans to play along with. It was lovely seeing all your sketch inspired cards last week and as always we were amazed by the variety of creations it produced.

Our Kate is sunning herself in Spain at the moment (not jealous at all - honest) so is unable to play along this week. Hope you're enjoying yourself hunny!

So what are we challenging you to do for us this fortnight? Well we want to see your creations inspired by a song or piece of music. This doesn't have to be a literal interpretation of a song and doesn't have to have the title on the card - just share with us something that a favourite song or musical piece has inspired you to create. Once I got to thinking about this challenge and started looking at my PTI sets I couldn't stop thinking of songs to create a card from!! I made two different ones in the end but I could have gone on and on.

Diamonds Are a Girls Best Friend - Marylin Monroe

{Recipe:}
STAMPS: A Little Argyle, Round and Round.
CARD: Vintage cream, Aqua mist.
INK: Aqua mist, Enchanted Evening.
OTHER: Limitless Layers 1.75" dies, gemstones

I Love Rock and Roll - Joan Jett and the Blackhearts.

{Recipe:}
STAMPS: Grunge Me, Boy Basics: Rock On.
CARD: Orange Zest, Summer Sunrise.
INK: Summer Sunrise, Orange Zest, Terracotta Tile, Smokey grey..
OTHER: Guitar die, Glossy Accents


Over to Aimes
For this challenge I thought I'd struggle but actually the hardest part for me was narrowing down my song choice!

I really wanted to pay tribute to one of my favourite songs - Mr Jones by Counting Crows but time beat me once again....(if I ever get the time I'll play along again this fortnight!) so I thought I'd stick with a super cheesy classic, 'Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves' (note: this is not an indication of what is in my music collection!)Card Deets
{Thank you for being so thoughtful}
Stamps: Signature Greetings (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Cardstock: Blueberry Sky
Patterned Paper: Distressed Dots - Harvest Gold (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: White Twill Ribbon, White Vintage Button (Papertrey Ink)/Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers)

No literal interpretation here - just the title of the song inspiring my colour choices! This song makes me think of summer and beaches hence my sand, sea and sky colour combo. The good thing is that you can create a card based solely on the mood a song puts you in so the possibilities for getting inked up along to a song are endless!

Onto our featured stamper Jen,

The song that just kept coming to my mind and having so much meaning to me was a new one by Chris Tomlin (I LOVE his music!) called "Symphony". Here are a few lines from the song (if you'd like to hear the song and see the entire lyrics, feel free to visit my blog):

Shining wonders, fields of splendor; how they sing Your symphony
The deepest oceans, rising mountains; how they sing Your symphony
Let the earth fear the Lord, and all the people of the world; stand in awe, stand in awe
In symphony with all created things, sing the song that we were made to sing
We stand in awe, we stand in awe
In the skies and in the oceans, everything that's living, breathing
A symphony to You

I live in Kansas , in the United States and right now the fields are full of the splendor of God. I love, LOVE this time of year as the fields begin to grow, the trees are all turning green & flowers are blooming. The other day we were coming home from town and as we turned onto the road that leads to our small town, the fields were literally dancing (it is very windy here a lot!!). It was one of the most beautiful sights and I was very much in awe as I told my husband to slow down and just look! That is what this song says to me. The fields seemed to be dancing for the Lord and in that moment I was able to sing the praises of God and stand in awe. It's amazing what a little wind and some tall grasses/crops can do for my soul! I also love when the wheat begins to turn golden. It is such a beautiful picture and another one that makes me sing a symphony of praise to the Lord. That is how this song inspired me to create this card


Supplies (all PTI unless noted)
Stamps: Spiral Bouquet, Background Basics: Sheet Music, Everyday Blessings
Paper: Rustic Cream, Smokey Shadow
Other: Vineyard Impression Plate, Labels 1 Nestabilities, Ribbon, Pop Dots, White Pearls, Copics, Crop-a-dile

So off you go and start going through your CD collection, iPod or vinyl (for you golden oldies out there - lol) and create something inspired!

Up for grabs this week is....

Signiature Series : Cupcake stamp set.



Here's what you need to know:
* 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 30th 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.

Looking forward to seeing all your fabulous sketch interpretations!
Caryn, Aimes, Kate & Jenxxxx

A Winner!

I know I'm a little late in the day getting this done but this is honestly the first chance I've had all day!!

Thanks to those girlies who played along with us for the sketch challenge it was lovely seeing such variety.  Our lucky winner of the gorgoeus patterned papers is....


Number 8 - Anne (AOK).  Well done sweetie, get your deets emailed over to us and your goodies will be winging their way over to you in the swish of a lambs tail!

As it happens Ann's card also appears in our Top 3 Passionistas too!  Amazing cards everyone - here's the three that really popped out.



Debby - Your card just typifies the teen grunge look - but not in a greasy, grubby way!!  We loved the way you totally rocked this sketch.

Anne - There is such a gorgeous retro feel to this card and the layers and details are so pretty

Rachel - We loved the use of the little rose instead of the "O" and pretty pastel ginghams - looks fab.

Well done ladies, stunning cards.  If you want the blinkie for your blog then please just drop us a line.

Celebrate today....

Celebrate today...

....because it's the weekend!

Hope you all have a super weekend - shame it's not a bank holiday (I was getting a little too used to having Fridays and Mondays off work!) I have nothing planned myself, but sometimes I think that's the nicest kinda weekend to have :D

If you've got nothing planned, why not check out our current challenge? *wink*

Aimes
x

Challenge: A Sketch!

Hello all, hope you had a fabulous weekend and enjoyed the extra days off - woo hoo! Everything is starting to go back to normal now (humph) so to cheer us all up here is a new challenge to sink your teeth into!

Thanks to Caryn for the first time here on A Passion for Papertrey we are giving you a sketch to follow! It's pretty simple and don't forget you can interpret it in any way you wish. As always you need to use at least one PTI product to be eligible for the prize.

So here is the sketch:


And here is my take on it - I stayed pretty close to the design, using a yummy colour combo of aqua, cream and red :)




Recipe: (PTI unless otherwise stated)
Stamps: Birthday Bash Sentiments/Friends 'Til the End
Ink: Memento black
Card: Pure Poppy/Vintage Cream/ Library Ledger paper
Other: Labels One dies (Spellbinders)/Copic Sketch Markers/Aqua Mist saddle-stitch ribbon/Rustic Twine/Aqua Mist button


Over to Caryn ...

"I used a mix of Spring Moss and Pure Poppy (yum) and the focal point image comes from Blooming Button Bits. The buttons actually came off an old dress belonging to one of my girls!!! I stamped the sentiment from Mega Mixed Messages onto some off-white ribbon I had in my stash and used some off-cuts of paper from the Rustic Snowflakes paper pad."

And here's Aimes:
"Y'know I love a sketch challenge to kick-start the creative mojo - I find I get a little stuck in a rut otherwise, sticking to the same layouts all the time! For this sketch I flipped the stripes and moved the circular shape slightly to create a super-bright (well, it's bright IRL!) birthday card:

Card Deets
{BIG birthday wishes}
Stamps: Birthday Bash Sentiments (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Cardstock: Stamper's Select White, True Black, Pure Poppy, Orange Zest, Lemon Tart, Simply Chartreuse, Hawaiian Shores, Plum Pudding (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: Cuttlebug/Nestabilities/True Black Vintage Buttons and True Black Grosgrain Ribbon (Papertrey Ink)

I'm not sure if you can tell on the pic, but three buttons are peeking from behind the sentiment. :) And the best part about this card? It was created mainly from my scraps of coloured cardstock - bonus!"


And here is our fabulous May Featured Stamper, Jen...

“I really enjoyed working with this sketch and I couldn't resist pulling out one of my favorite color combinations, pure poppy & aqua mist with a neutral mixed in. I also couldn't resist adding a little yellow too. This color combo has always drawn me in and I love working with it! The patterned paper is from one of my favorite PTI pads, Bitty Box Basics (I would LOVE to have this paper in all the PTI colors!!) and the border strips were die cut with the Simple Circles border die which is quickly becoming a favorite die because it is so versatile! Throw in a Parisian Lace doily and some paper flowers and you have a fairly quick and simple card!”

And what is up for grabs this week? A fabulous 'Fly Away' mini PTI set!





Here's the boring bit...

* 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 16th 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.

Looking forward to seeing all your fabulous sketch interpretations!
Kate, Aimes, Caryn & Jenxxxx

Our winner!

So are you all Royal Wedding-ed out yet?! Did you watch it? Did you think she looked stunning?!

Well even if you've had enough of Royal Wedding coverage we still have to draw a winner for our Royal Wedding inspired challenge... so here goes!!

And the winner is:

Here are your random numbers:

4

Timestamp: 2011-05-03 18:04:43 UTC
(Random.org)


.....Vannessa! Congratulations Vannessa! Email us your postal addy to apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.co.uk and we'll get your prize in the post to you!


As usual choosing our Top 3 Passionistas was a hard task but in the end we chose the following fabulous creations: (Don't forget to scroll down to have a look at all the other inspiring entries though!)




1) Ulina - Ulina's gorgeous card is wedding elegance at it's very best - clean and simple, classy with a touch of bling - we love it!

2) Natty - Natty managed to add several layers and embellishments to her card without making it look cluttered - more of a work of art! Any couple would treasure it wouldn't they?!

3) Lorena - Lorena's card immediately jumped out at us! Again, a very elegant and classy card and made extra special by being circular - thanks for the inspiration Lorena!

 A big thank you to everyone who entered - don't forget to check back later for our next challenge!

Kate, Aimes, Caryn & Jen xxxx

May's Featured Stamper

We're in the middle of enjoying our super-sunny extra Bank Holidays and realised it's May already!!! A new month means a new featured stamper here on the blog so it's time for an introduction....

...but just before the introduction, I'm sure you'll join us in thanking Claire for being our featured stamper for April. We've loved having you on board, Claire and thank you for creating some fabulous projects for us!

So now onto May's Featured Stamper....we'd like to introduce to you:

Jen Carter!

Yup - if you don't already know Jen, then we'd like to point out that we're widening the field when it comes to featured stampers. Although our blog is primarily aimed at uniting PTI fans across Europe, inspiration is worldwide to us :)

Time to grab a cuppa and learn a little bit more about Jen:

1)How did you get into papercrafting?
I first started papercrafting in Junior High. I wanted to keep mementos from school and save some of my favorite pictures of me with my friends so I began scrapbooking. During college I didn’t have as much time to work on scrapbooking, but after I got married we had a spare bedroom so we turned that into an office/scrapbook room and I put together several scrapbooks for my Grandparent’s 50^th wedding anniversary. Several years later we had our son and I scrapbooked about everything…for the first 2 years of his life and then I got burnt out. I longed to use pinks and purples and flowers and everything girly! But, how do you do that when you are scrapbooking about all things boy!? That is when I found and fell in love with stamping!

2)How long have you been stamping for?
My mom bought me my first set of stamps when I was in High School. I used stamps off and on in my scrapbooks but didn’t have a large collection at all. It was about 6 years ago that I really got serious about stamping. I was so happy to be able to use color (I LOVE color!!) and lots of it! I wasn’t limited to blues and greens anymore, but could use the pinks and purples I loved and also stamp flowers!

3) How did you get into PTI and why do you love it so much?
After I stamped about a year, I became a demonstrator for a stamping company. During that time PTI opened for business and I instantly loved how well thought out their sets were. I couldn’t believe how each set was so versatile and could be used with punches (and now dies) and how so many of their sets were interchangeable and able to be mixed & matched! I remember when “Green Thumb” came out and how the boot had 3 separate stamps so that you could easily change the color of each piece without masking or using markers. That was LOVE for me! It was just such an ingenious idea! And each month as another set came out, I continued to see that well thought out plan and I was hooked!

4)What would you say is your stamping style?
I like anything simple. I don’t usually want to spend tons of time on one card and I like to keep them clean too.

5)Do you have a favourite PTI colour or colour combo that just makes you drool?
My favorite PTI color is a toss up between Raspberry Fizz and Hawaiian Shores , although I do love so many of them! One of my favorite color combos is Hawaiian Shores (or Aqua Mist) with Pure Poppy and any neutral mixed in. I just LOVE that one so much…drool worthy for sure!

6)If you had to choose just one PTI stamp set to keep, which one would it be and why?
That is a tough question! My all-time favorite is probably Polka Dot Basics, but if I only had one, I would want it to be set that includes sentiments and images so I would go with the CHA 2009 set, Floral Fusion followed in close 2^nd by Spiral Bouquet. Both of those sets offer so many possibilities and can be used as a background or as a focal image and both also include sentiments.

7)Who is your PTI Idol?
Nichole Heady for sure. It was her blog that originally drew me into PTI and where I really & truly saw how versatile PTI sets are! She never ceases to amaze me at her level of creativity both in designing her cards & projects and also in designing her stamp sets!

8)Where do you get your inspiration from?
I get my inspiration all over. I love looking at blogs and magazines as much as possible but I also find inspiration in normal everyday things. Just this morning I noticed that the colors & design on the cover of the book I was reading was a great source of inspiration for a card! Sometimes inspiration comes from clothing that I see in a store or a commercial on TV.

9)What’s your stamping dream?
I would love to have my work published in a popular crafting magazine, but I guess that means I need to actually SUBMIT something! LOL! I would love the opportunity to provide input on a stamp design too!

10)Where can we go to check out more of your wonderful creations?
I have a blog called Jen’s Ink Spot that I would love for you to visit at: www.jensinkspot.blogspot.com.

Thanks, Jen! Be sure to take a visit to Jen's blog for some great inspiration and take a peek at her fabulous button rings - nope, I'm not saying anymore, just check 'em out! I'm sure you'll join us in welcoming Jen here and like us, are really looking forward to her contributions to our blog starting tomorrow with our new challenge!

xxx

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

Hey Baby!!

Morning all and welcome to our new challenge. To celebrate the long awaited arrival of spring and all things new and fresh we thought we'd have a baby-themed challenge. It doesn't have to be a card - we love projects of all kinds (as long as we can see our beloved PTI in there somewhere!!).

Our lovely Aimes has gone missing this week. She was last seen under a heap of brown boxes and gaffer tape en route to her new digs. So it's just Kate and I sharing our baby ideas with you this week - and unbeknowns to both of us our colour schemes are somewhat similar!!!!

I've opted to use the gorgeous Baby Button Bits set - LOVE it. I've paper pieced the cupcake with fine linen dotty paper which is stamped in Dark Chocolate ink onto Aqua Mist cardstock. The starry design which I stamped in Aqua Mist onto Fine Linen card is my new Hero Arts purchase (ssshh, don't tell anyone!!).

Caryn

Recipe:
Stamps: Baby Button Bits (PTI), Star background stamp (Hero Arts)
Card: Kraft, Fine Linen, Aqua Mist
Ink: Dark Chocolate
Paper: Dotty
Other: Mat stack 4 die, Fine linen button, SU scalloped edge punch.


Over to Kate: "I recently had to make two baby boy cards so I reached for my Bitty Baby Blessings set. I love paper piecing with this set so paper pieced two cute babygrows! Can you spot a subtle difference between the two cards? No?! Ok, the main panel of the one one the left is popped up on foam dimensionals so has more depth, in real life you can really notice the difference, and I definitely prefer it."







Recipe:
Stamps: Bitty Baby Blessings
Card: Stamper's Select White, Spring Rain, Kraft
Ink: Memento Black
Paper: Bitty Dots
Other: 2 1/2 Circle Collection Dies/Argyle Impression Plate

And this is the fabulous PTI stamp set you could win!:




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 4th 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.

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

Caryn, Kate and Aimes xxx

Our winners!

What a fabulous collection of entries we had to choose from this week.  We were really spoiled for choice and saw some great ideas for using our PTI sets with the paper-piecing technique.

Our randomly chosen winner this week and the lucky lady winning the PTI stamp set is...

...14

Which means Vicki is our winner! Yay!!!

Drop us an email Vicki so we can arrange for your prize to wing it's way to you.

And here are our Top 3 Passionistas - well done ladies.


Chupa - We loved the fun vibrant feel to this card and the mix of papers on those butterflies works so well.
Anne - Well what can we say about Anne's field of golden daffodils.  I feel happy just thinking about them!!!
Maureen - We all just adore this card - the rainbow of flags on the banner just make you think of summer!

Well done ladies.  Drop us an email so we can send you the blinkie for our Top 3 Passionista.

Caryn, Aimes and Kate xxx

"Piece out, man"!!

Geddit? Piece, peace??? Ok, it's tenuous but a link all the same to our lovely new challenge which is to use paper piecing in your project. I love to do paper piecing but it can be time-consuming. I have to say though the result is usually worth it and PTI have loads of fabulous sets that lend themselves beautifully to this technique.
For my sample I chose a set that hasn't seen much love in a long time (hides head in shame). I love this cute little set though - it was among the first I bought. I have stamped it onto my favourite PTI paper too - the polka dot one from the Raspberry Fizz collection - yum. The sentiment is also from the Scattered Showers set.

Caryn

Recipe
{Wishing You Sunshine}
Stamps: Scattered Showers, Background Basics: Hearts (Papertrey Ink), Legder Stamp (Hero Arts)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento) Versamark, Enchanted Evening (Papertrey Ink)
Cardstock: Enchanted Evening, Kraft (Papertrey Ink)
Patterned Paper: Raspberry Fizz collection (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories:Raspberry Fizz twill ribbon/, Medium scallop border die (Papertrey Ink)

Over to Aimes:
Believe it or not, I don't actually own that many PTI sets that scream out, "Paper-piece me, girly!" but it is a technique that I seriously love when I've got the patience to do it, and it's a great way to use those diddy scraps you've been hoarding too *wink*

So after rooting through some of my sets, I came across the solid outline stamp of a butterfly from Butterfly Dreams; rooted through my Bitty Dots DP Scrap bag (yes, I am an organised, verging-on-OCD kinda gal when it comes to scraps!) and got busy:

As you can hopefully tell, I wasn't happy with just a pinky, dotty butterfly: I wanted a shiny, super glittery butterfly instead. Cue a good dollop of the Glossy Accents and glitter for a blingin' butterfly so bright it'd blind ya LOL!

Gotta love me some super-shiny-shimmery goodness :)

Card Deets
{Happy Birthday}
Stamps: Butterfly Dreams, Birthday Bash Sentiments (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento) Versamark
Cardstock: Enchanted Evening (Papertrey Ink)
Patterned Paper: Basic White 6x6 Pad (Basic Grey)/Hibiscus Burst Bitty Dot Basics (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: Simply Chartreuse Felt, Eyelet Border Die, Simply Chartreuse Button (Papertrey Ink)/Cuttlebug/Circle Nestability (Spellbinders)/Glossy Accents (Ranger)/Prisma Glitter/Chompy (Corner Chomper - We R Memory Keepers)

Over to Kate: "The minute I thought about this challenge I reached for my On My Couch set, and paper pieced the sofa with one of the papers from Turning a New Leaf - then added some shading with a copic marker to make it add a bit of dimension. A simple, CAS card for a special friend!"



Recipe:
Stamps - On My Couch/On My Couch Additions
Ink - Memento black
Card - Vintage Cream/Dark Chocolate
Paper - Turning a New Leaf
Dies - Mat Stack 5/Ric-Rak

So what's on offer this time round for all you lovely challengees?? It's this........

Fillable Frames #5 stamp set.

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, March 21st 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.

Caryn, Aimes and Kate
xxxx

A winner!

Happy Monday, peeps!

As you may or may not know, we've had a bit of a shuffle around on the blog and will now be announcing winners and our Top 3 PTI Passionistas on the Monday a challenge ends, and introducing our new challenge on the Tuesdays (Just in case you're poised and super eager to check out our new challenge; I don't wanna see you glued to the screen for a challenge that isn't due until tomorrow now!)

So now it's time to draw a randomly selected winner for our 'invitations' challenge. Drum roll please.....

Here are your random numbers:

7 

Timestamp: 2011-03-07 16:51:47 UTC

Lucky number seven is super lucky for...Angélique! Congrats, Angélique! Be sure to email your postal address to us at apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.co.uk so we can send that sweet stamp set out to ya!

Now maybe you were all busy, or all unsure of inviting us over but of those of you who did create fabulous invites made it a toughie to narrow it down to a top 3. After much consideration and oooohing and aaaahing we decided on the following:


Linby went one further from using the outline image from On My Couch and designed her own fabric covers using another stamp! We also love the repetition of the sentiment across the card!

Gerdine wowed us with her use of Up, Up and Away to create these super sweet invites. We hadn't even considered this as a set to use for an invite but it looks fabulous wouldn't you agree?!

Angélique literally took the idea of an invite out of one box and into another with this amazing tea-filled invite all packaged up sweetly into a box! What a super sweet way to invite a friend over for tea!

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!

Now for everyone else, stay tuned tomorrow for our new challenge; I have a feeling you'll go to 'pieces' once you see it *wink*

Aimes, Caryn & Kate
xxx

P.S If you're wondering about our featured stamper for March, we've decided to take a rain-check this month. Life is busy for all of us at the moment including the stamper we'd like to feature so it'll be back for April!

Friend

Hello, hello!

Flying by today with a li'l card I haven't shown on here yet:

This was created for a past Make it Monday challenge from PTI. I love that each challenge focuses on a new technique (and that you could be in with the chance of winning a PTI stamp set each week too of course!)

Ooh and speaking of challenges, why not enter our current challenge? Maybe even combine it with a Make it Monday challenge to double your chances of winning some PTI goodies *wink*

You'll have to forgive my lack of words and absence around Blogland today and for the next few weeks: we're moving house and my guy has the huge task of training me to be organised lol! He's a brave guy who's not afraid of a challenge.....I think he's stressing already and we're yet to open a cupboard to pack up - ha!

Wishing the rest of you a fabulous, and stress-free week!

Aimes
x