A Passion for Plaid

Hello everyone, this is Dana with my last entry as a Featured Stamper. I've whipped up a little gift set for a friend who lend me a helping hand over the last few weeks and I just wanted to show my appreciation and gratitude.

Plaid seems to be a major trend at the moment and I wanted to incorporate that into my project. However, I'm too impatiened to stamp it *perfectly* ;-) So, instead of having accurate grids I simply stamped random lines and even added some distressing to the lines with an ordinary eraser. I think it adds a fresh, modern look to the plaid theme, don't you?

Thank you for looking and thanks again to Kate and Aimes for having me! It was so exciting to see my work featured here :)

Dana xx

Supplies:
Card
Stamps: Faux Ribbon, Everyday Button Bits
Ink: Hawaiian Shores, Aqua Mist, True Black
Cardstock: Stamper's Select White, Kraft
Other: Vintage Buttons Lemon Tart, sewing machine / thread, Copic Markers (BG11, BG13), clear embossing powder

Flower Seed Envelope (inside the card)
Stamps: Faux Ribbon
Ink: Hawaiian Shores, Aqua Mist
Cardstock: clear cardstock, Staples lightweight cardstock (white, 120g)
Other: Beautiful Blooms II die #1 (smallest die), flower seeds, Carl Craft corner rounder

CD Cover
Stamps: Faux Ribbon
Ink: Hawaiian Shores, Aqua Mist, True Black
Cardstock: Stamper's Select White
Other: sewing machine / thread, decorative scissors (scalloped)

Gift Wrap (for the CD)
Stamps: Fillable Frames II
Ink: Snow White
Paper: Gift wrap (kraft)
Other: sewing machine / thread, rotary trimmer (for tearing perforation), decorative scissors (pinked), tissue flower {Beautiful Blooms II die #1 (biggest die), white tissue paper, Ranger Mini Mister (filled with water and turquoise acrylic paint), Making Memories brad (silver)}

Home Sweet Home

Hey!

Happy Wednesday! We're nearly there, Peeps! I can see the weekend approaching, and a fabulous Bank Holiday one at that for us - woo hoo!!! Phew! Work has just been manic this week so I'll be grateful for a few days to catch up with everything!

Anyways, enough of my busy week, how about a card?

I made this quite a while ago for my partner in PTI crime, Kate! It took ages to go through the post, I've no idea why but it delayed me in posting it up here and then I kinda forgot about it hiding in my documents!
Card Recipe
Stamps: Papertrey Ink Daily Designs/Daily Designs Sentiment/Polka Dot Basics II
Ink: Versamark/Papertrey Ink Dark Chocolate
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink Dark Chocolate/Aqua Mist/Raspberry Fizz/Kraft
Accessories: Papertrey Ink Raspberry Fizz Grosgrain Ribbon/Martha Stewart Border Punch/Cuttlebug/Nestabilities/Promarkers

Needless to say I always turn to Aqua Mist for my buddy, but now I'm thinking I may have to turn to Hawaiian Shores for her...or maybe both?! LOL!

This was made before my guilty crafty indulgence of a fab apron-lace border punch...to create my punched edges for this card, I used my trusty dotted scalloped border punch and aligned the dots right up to the edge of the Aqua Mist cardstock. It gives a kinda apron-lace effect though it's no substitute for the real deal ;D

Hope y'all having a fab week so far...thanks so much to all that have entered our current challenge so far, I'm loving your entries and hope to catch up 'properly' this weekend!

Aimes
x

Showing some love!

Last weekend I sat down to make my sample for our current challenge - rooting through my PTI stamps I came across my Green Thumb set which was sitting unloved at the bottom of the pile. So to rectify that I decided to make a few cards using it - I've been putting these on my blog but here they are all together!













So are there any sets that you need to show some love to?!

Kate x

Challenge: Pretty Petals

The sun has been shining, the ground is warming up and everything is in bloom. So to celebrate this gorgeous time of year we're going to go mad for flowers for our next challenge! So let's see those flowers on your projects peeps! Any colour or variety, the choice is yours!

For my sample I dug out (bad pun, sorry!) my Green Thumb set. This was one of my first ever PTI sets, bought about three years ago, but hasn't seen much ink lately! That's changed though as I had a good play with it over the weekend!



Recipe:
Stamps - Green Thumb
Card - Stamper's Select White/True Black/Spring Moss
Ink - Summer Sunrise/Melon Berry/Orange Zest/Terracotta Tile/Spring Rain/Antique Linen Distress Ink
Other - True Black gingham ribbon/Spring Moss button

Here's Aimes:

"Well I bet you were expecting me to ink up Friends 'til the End for this challenge were you not?! LOL! Well in a bid to escape my urge to ink it up all the time I fancied surprising both you and myself by having a go at making my own flower!"


"Super easy to make with lots of die-cut flowers from tissue paper! Just proves that you don't need a stamp set that features a flower to enter our challenge ;D"

Card Recipe
(All PTI Supplies)
Stamps: Background Basics: Text Style/Turning a New Leaf/Damask Designs (sentiment)
Ink: Smokey Shadow/Spring Moss/Versamark
Cardstock: Lemon Tart/Stamper's Select White
Accessories: Vellum/White Tissue Paper/Lemon Tart Button/Jute Button Twine/Cuttlebug/Nestabilities/Apron Lace Border Punch

And here is our sample from Dana, this month's Featured Stamper!

Isn't it so happy and cheerful?!

Stamps: PTI Fillable Frames #2, PTI Giga Guidelines, PTI Heart Prints
Ink: PTI Summer Sunrise, PTI Spring Moss & Aqua Mist (mixed), PTI Vintage Tea Dye Duo
Cardstock: PTI Vintage Cream, PTI Rustic Cream, Core'Dinations Aquamarine,
Patterned Paper: Cosmo Cricket Early Bird
Dies: PTI Beautiful Blooms die #2, PTI Fillable Frames #2 die
Other: PTI Vintage Button Aqua Mist, Prima E-line flowers (white Hydrangea), sisal twine, sewing machine / thread

Here's those 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, May 3rd 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 floral delights you come up with!

Kate, Aimes & Dana
xxx

A Winner!

Thank you for all the wonderful entries to our Material Girl challenge - there were so many inspiring ways of using material!

So here's our winner!

Here are your random numbers:

6

Timestamp: 2010-04-19 08:06:14 UTC
(Random.org)

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

So now onto our Top 3 PTI Passionistas....well it was a toughie with so many of you managing to incorporate material into your creations so well, but we narrowed it down to the following:


Beverley - We loved the way Beverley created a coordinating butterfly by stamping directly onto her material. The result is a super pretty butterfly that totally coordinates with the polka dot ribbon and DP. Plus, who can't resist that Raspberry Fizz goodness thrown in for good measure, eh?!

Kim - Kim shows that you don't have to think girly-girl to incorporate material onto your cards with this fabulous card suitable for both guys and gals! We love that the grass Kim created from material has a fabulous pattern cut along the top. What a fab finishing touch to add!

Mary Ann - The thing we both admired about Mary Ann's use of material, is how the green satin really reflected the reality of those leaves! They almost look real with that gorgeous green sheen! Couldn't you just imagine stroking them?! LOL!

Way to go ladies! If you'd like our Top 3 Passionista blinkie to wear with pride on your blogs, email us at apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.co.uk and we'll email you the code!

Thanks so much to everyone who entered!

Aimes, Kate and Dana
xxx

It's written in the sky...

Hey!

Happy Friday, Peeps!!! Can't believe it's Friday already! Where did this week disappear to?!

I'm sharing a card today that uses the same idea as my 'Material Girl' challenge example (There's still time to enter that challenge y'know ;D)


Instead of a felt butterfly, I used the cute lil' plane from Tiny Treats: Valentine. Isn't it sweet?! A fellow blogger liked my idea and took it a step further using this plane and I couldn't resist trying it out myself!

The clouds in the background have been made by cutting a few Scalloped Oval Nesties and sponging Spring Rain ink around them. I've seen this done quite a bit recently and it beats having to cut precious DP covered in fluffy clouds! The best part is that as skies are pretty random, you can't go too wrong on the placement of the clouds!

Card Recipe
(PTI Supplies)
Stamps: Around and About Sentiments/Tiny Treats: Valentine/Polka Dot Basics II
Ink: Spring Rain/Versamark/Memento Black
Cardstock: Stamper's Select White/Pure Poppy/Spring Rain
Accessories: Clear EP/Machiney/EK Success Border Punch Embossed Scallop/Corner Punch

I'm also starting to learn to love my sewing machine (aka Machiney). I think it's gonna be a relationship full of ups and downs but for the meantime, he's in my good books LOL!

And on another note, did you check out the new Papertrey release this month?! I'm seriously loving a lot of that release and I just know that there's a couple of sets that are sure to be my go-to sets (especially for masculine cards!) We'd love to hear what you thought of it all!

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

Aimes
x

Fizzy!

Boo! After a few beautifully sunny days it's cloudy and overcast so hopefully this cheery Raspberry Fizz card will put a smile on your face!




Recipe:
Stamps - Dot Spot/Fillable Frames no 1 (PTI)
Card - Stampers Select White/Raspberry Fizz
Ink - Versamark/Versafine black/Raspberry Fizz
Other - Fillable Frames no 1 die/felt flower/white e.p/corner chomper/white grosgrain ribbon/white button

Are you enjoying the PTI countdown? Will you be ordering anything tomorrow? We'd love to hear what's caught your eye this month!

I'm loving that they're introducing so many cheaper sets - how cute is that airplane set! I'm also loving the sweet pea set, and the argyle set and matching impression plates....hmmm, so much to choose from!

Thanks for visiting... ooh, and keep an eye out for a fun feature we'll be introducing to the blog soon!

Kate x

Super Sparkly Flutterbys!

Hey!

TGI Friday, Peeps! Are you ready for the weekend or is that a stupid question?!

This week has zoomed by far too fast for my liking and in the process I managed to forget my SIL's birthday! I really do feel awful, but for some stupid reason I was thinking that it was next week and not this week! Duh!

So cue my lightening-quick card-making skills, better late than never, right?! I inked up Butterfly Dreams and came up with this super-simple and super-flat, (only had small stamps for this little card on me at the time!) creation:

I was inspired to splash my flutterbys with colour after seeing this card by the super talented Maile Belles

Because I felt guilty about my forgetfulness, I wanted to add an extra something and went slightly crazy with the Glossy Accents and Ultra Fine Glitter :D

Slightly OTT but still makes me Ooooh and Ahhh when it sparkles in the daylight :D

Card Recipe
Mainly PTI Supplies
Stamps: Butterfly Dreams
Ink: Memento Black/Versamark
Cardstock: True Black/Raspberry Fizz
Accessories: Cuttlebug/Medium Scalloped Die/Judikins Glitter/White EP/White Gel Pen/Glossy Accents/Scor-Tape

Well I hope my SIL can forgive me! I have no excuse apart from I'm a bit of a doofus at times LOL!

Hope y'all have a wonderful weekend! No doubt I'll be finding traces of glitter everywhere for the next few days LOL!

Aimes
x

Material Girl!

Hi!

Hope you've all had a fabulous Easter and are enjoying Easter Monday (if you're lucky enough to be off for it!) anyone feeling sick at the sight of chocolate yet?! LOL!

So even though it's Easter Monday, it's still Monday nevertheless so it's time for a new challenge! Thanks so much to everyone who participated in our last challenge - we had a fabulous response and I can't believe the amazing creations I came across from beautiful cards to fabulous notepads to the sweetest treat holders! Definitely got my inspiration for next Easter ;D

So as our title suggests, for this fortnight's challenge we want you to think about using Material. Now don't shy away if you're not a seamstress, I'm not one either! When we say material we're not thinking ribbon but more like fabrics, felts etc...

Fancy cheating? You can even use a pre-bought material embellishment (I've been loving those crocheted flowers I've seen everywhere recently!) or feel free to make your own material embellishment. Not feeling like making an embellishment? Then use some fabric to add a layer to your creation. Anything, so long as it's material, will count!

So for my example I decided to finally use that PTI Butterfly Die that had been waiting so patiently to be run through my cuttlebug with some felt I had lying around!


Card Recipe
Stamps: Around and About Sentiments
Ink: Ripe Avocado
Card: Dark Chocolate/Vintage Cream/Turning A New Leaf DPs
Accessories: Butterfly Die/Cuttlebug/Paper Piercer/Brown Felt/Ripe Avocado Button/Jute Button Twine/Dark Chocolate Grosgrain Ribbon/Apron Lace Border Punch

Here's Kate: "I decided to pull out my Beautiful Blooms set - one of the first PTI sets I bought! I used some Cuttlebug flower dies to make and layer the flowers"


Recipe:
Stamps - Beautiful Blooms/Damask Designs
Ink - Ripe avocado/Versafine
Card - Ripe Avocado/Plum Pudding/Vintage Cream
Other - Cuttlebug Flower dies/felt/Plum Pudding buttons and ribbon

As our featured stamper for April, Dana rolled out the fabric to come up with this super sweet creation:


There's something so fitting about using material on baby cards!

Stamps: PTI Baby Button Bits
Ink: PTI True Black, PTI Hawaiian Shores
Cardstock: PTI Rustic Cream, PTI Kraft
Other: IKEA Bomull fabric, EK Success Epoxy Dome Stickers, pinking shears, sewing machine / thread, Copic Markers (E44, E55, BG13), Tombow glue roller, Dove Craft foam squares

So 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, April 19th 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 fabulous creations you come up with!

Aimes, Kate & Dana
xxx

Our winner!

Thank you for all the wonderful entries to our Easter/Spring challenge!! What a mouthwatering collection of cards!

Our winner is:

Here are your random numbers:

23

Timestamp: 2010-04-05 12:41:24 UTC

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

Here's Marinette's beautiful Easter card!
We've been overwhelmed by the support you've all given our blog, so by way of thanks we want to give you the chance to be a Top Three Pti Passionista!!

Please meet our Top Three blinkie!

For every future challenge, in addition to our randomly drawn winner, we will choose our top three creations and the winners will be able to display this blinkie on their blog. Entries from all corners of the world will be eligible for the blinkie!

It was SO hard trying to choose a top three for this challenge, but eventually we decided upon the following:




1) Diane We loved how Diane used several sets to make this gorgeous Easter tree!

2)Emma Check out these adorable Easter Egg treat baskets Emma made using Polka Dot Basics II!

3) Ann We fell in love with Ann's simple and stylish card, with its fresh twist on Spring colours!

Congratulations Diane, Emma and Ann! If you would like to put the blinkie on your blog please email us at apassionforpapertrey@yahoo.co.uk and we'll send you the code to upload it.

Thank you again for all your support, enjoy the challenge!

Kate, Aimes and Dana

Happy Easter!

Hey!

Happy Easter to those of you celebrating it! I'm not tucking into the chocolate eggs quite yet, though I'll admit that I've got a nice supply of 'em to keep me going for a while (if I share that is LOL!)

Today I'm sharing a card and a technique that I am guilt of not using enough!

Firstly, here's a card I made that was completely inspired by one of Nichole Heady's creations:


Here's Nichole's original and super amazing creation I got my inspiration from. I love how simple yet effective this card is!

I noticed as I looked at my card next to hers, that not only is it clear that she has more talent in her pinky than I'll ever aspire to have, but she's added such a subtle finishing touch to her card that completely brings this simple card to life! She's inked the edges!

I don't own the Tea Dye Duo Vintage Ink so armed with some Antique Linen Distress Ink and a sponge I got inky and returned with a card that still doesn't even come close to Nichole's, but is slightly improved nevertheless!

Card Recipe
All PTI Supplies Unless Stated
Stamps: Friends 'til the End
Ink: Versamark (Antique Linen Distress Ink after re-touch!)
Cardstock: White Blank from stash/Kraft
Accessories: Detail White Embossing Powder/Promarkers/White Gel Pen

So next time something is looking a little flat (no, not literally!) on your creation, think about inking the edges!

Right then, think I'm gonna have to cave in and scoff some chocolate! If you're not busy scoffing or doing anything else, there's still time to enter our current challenge y'know...

Aimes
x

Our new Featured Stamper!

Happy April fool's day!! Today we're delighted to welcome on board a brand new Featured Stamper for the month ahead... so please meet Dana Fleckenstein, from Germany!



Dana has been a supporter of our blog for a long time and we're thrilled that she'll be sharing some of her wonderful creations with us for the month of May.

Let's ask Dana a few questions to get to know her a bit more!


1)How did you get into papercrafting?

When I think back, it happened quite by accident! I've always had a thing for pretty paper, pens, notebooks etc. but it was as late as fall 2008 that I first took notice of "serious" papercrafting. I was browsing the web for ideas to dress up a travel diary that I wrote together with a friend on a road trip the year before. Actually, that diary still isn't finished because something got in my way: card making :)

2)How long have you been stamping for?

I can’t believe it myself but that’s only one year so far. I bought my first stamps in November 2008 at a local shop but really got into stamping a few weeks later when I discovered Nichole Heady’s blog and all the wonderful PTI goodies.


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

In December 2008, we organized a Secret Santa swap at the office and I was surfing the web for a little gift idea to give to a colleague. Finally, I found a really cute template for a snow man soup gift tin at a blog - it was Nichole Heady's and the rest is history ;-)
What I love most about PTI is the mixture of so many things. In particular, I love the clean lines and modern look of their stamps and also how their products don't pin you down on a certain style. I also like the idea of having co-ordinating supplies: paper, ink, ribbon, buttons... and now, even matching dies!

4)What would you say is your stamping style?

Oh, I’m not sure what my stamping style is or if there is already such a thing as a defined style. However, I like those of my cards most that I make with a certain recipient in mind. This also involves adjusting part of your stamping / card making to what the recipient would possibly love. What feels very comfortable for me, though, is a colorful clean & simple style.

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

I love, LOVE everything turquoise, so, my favorite colours are Aqua Mist and the new Hawaiian Shores colour. As far as colour combos are concerned, I like to combine several neutrals like kraft, cream and chocolate with bright, cheery hues, e.g. Raspberry Fizz.

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

Wheww, that’s a tough question! Let’s see… either Damask Designs or Giga Guidelines! Both sets have larger stamps for focal points, hold the possibility for background stamping and include versatile sentiments (oh, and the fonts are fab, too!). Perfect for any occasion and style if you ask me!!

7)Who is your PTI Idol?

Another toughie! Narrowed down to three people, I’d say it’s

* Dawn McVey because of her fresh, modern card making style and her great eye for colour combos in general
* Betsy Veldman - her unique, inspiring way of mixing colors and patterns with a touch of vintage is just gorgeous
* Nichole Heady, whose clean and sophisticated card making style I simply adore


8)Where do you get your inspiration from?

Blogs of PTI's design team and other papercrafters, online shops like Pottery Barn Teen and CAR Moebel, “real” store's window designs, magazines, advertisement, t-shirts… Inspiration can be everywhere you look, you just need to recognize it as such!

9)What’s your stamping dream?

Are we talking BIG dreams? Well, almost every stamper's dream is being recognized by a major papercrafting company and work on their design team, isn't it? A dream that is a bit more realistic? PTI would release sentiment sets in languages other than English. With German as my mother tongue, I would love to see that happen! …and now the definitively doable dream: a separate room for crafting!

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

I would love to welcome you at my little online home, www.dana-scraps.blogspot.com!

Thank you Dana, we can't wait to see your PTI creations in the weeks ahead.

We also wanted to say a big thank you to Katie for joining us in March, we loved having you on board Katie!

Thanks for stopping by - wishing you a wonderful Easter weekend!!

Kate, Aimes and Dana xxx