Sending Hugs

Happy Monday, peeps! I hope the weekend was a goody for ya! I can’t say we did anything special; sometimes those are the kinda weekends I like the best KWIM?!

Today I’m popping by to share some hugs with y’all…

This is another li’l card (what can I say, I’m hooked on them!) and measures a sweet 2.75 x 3.5 in size. My piccy doesn’t capture it, but that butterfly is absolutely smothered in Glossy Accents *grin*

I’m definitely a believer that a hug is good for you and cheers anyone up. Seeing as I’m definitely not a Monday person, I say, bring ’em on in both phsyical and card form! LOL!

*Hugs!*
Aimes
x

P.S If you’ve got a few inky moments free, why not play along with our ‘hip to be square’ challenge?

Card Deets {sending hugs}
Stamps: Butterfly Dreams, Friends til the End, Turning a New Leaf, Vintage Labels (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)/Versamark
Card: Kraft (Papertrey Ink)
Patterned Paper: True Black Bitty Box Basics (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: Cuttlebug/Nestabilities/Corner Chomper/Detail Clear EP/Detail White EP/Promarkers/Glossy Accents

Twilight Bloom

Here’s a project by our featured stamper for August, Cayrn!

This card is made using one of my favourite “go to when I fancy being artistic“ sets, In Bloom. I get so much therapy from colouring in these flowers. This time I have used my Aqua ProMarkers – LOVE them, so easy to blend and shade. I’ve used Twilight Blue (like the name girls?) and with a little Aquamarine blended in here and there too.

Of course it wouldn’t be me if I didn’t put bling on it so I went round the petals with my quickie glue pen and prisma glitter. The background layer on the card has been stamped in Enchanted Evening and Aqua Mist using Fancy Flourishes (another favourite) and I have also used Vintage labels on the mount too. Once I added it all on the card there wasn’t any room for a sentiment so this is a “whatever occasion” type card!

Caryn
xx

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

Emboss It!!!

Hey!

OK ready for a new challenge?! I hope so!

For this challenge we want you to emboss it! Don’t panic – you don’t have to have a heat gun for this challenge! Now you can have fun with y’heat gun if you want, but here’s some other tips for embossing:

• Running an embossing folder through your die-cutting machine
• Using a Nestability die
• Using a good old fashioned light box, stencil and ball tool!

So don’t think you’ve gotta get covered in embossing powder and burn yourself; though that’s exactly what I did for my example LOL:

Couldn’t resist giving my On My Couch set a little more inky love while it was out on my desk!

The Polka Dots are embossed with white detail powder on Pure Poppy cardstock, as is the sentiment too! I love the way the white ‘pops’!

Card Recipe
Stamps: Polka Dot Basics II/On My Couch/On My Couch Additions/Vintage Labels
Ink: Versamark/Pure Poppy/Dark Chocolate/Ripe Avocado/Fresh Snow
Card: Enchanted Evening/Pure Poppy/Stamper’s Select White
Accessories: Cuttlebug/Nestabilities/White Detail EP/Ripe Avocado Grosgrain Ribbon/White Gel Pen

Now Kate’s still sunning herself in L.A (gosh, what a shock she’ll have when she gets back to this weather LOL!) but never fear, Dawn is here as our featured stamper! She goes to prove that you don’t have to limit yourself to a card with her stunning example:

Check out that clear embossed Giga Guidelines background!

Dawn’s gonna be famous for her amazing notepads – I’m lucky to have one in my possession that I carry nearly everywhere but daren’t use for fear of spoiling it!

I just love that little hand pointing – it’s such a cute finishing touch!

Stamps: Giga Guidelines, Take Note
Cardstock: Dark Chocolate, Berry Sorbet
DSP: Bitty Dots, Everyday Blessings
Mediums: Staz-on, Chocolate Chip (SU), Embossing Stamp pad
Embellishments: Aqua Mist button, Berry Sorbet ½”luxe satin ribbon
Tools – Paper cutter and scorer, Snail adhesive, Heat gun, clear embossing power.

So there ya have it! I hope we’ve inspired you a tiny bit to think about embossing and to enter our challenge. Remember, there’s some PTI goodies to be won!

Here are the deets:

• All entries must contain at least one PTI product to qualify
• To enter, leave a comment with a link to your post featuring the project on your blog or online gallery.
• Worldwide entries are more than welcome to share the inspiration, but unfortunately prizes can only be shipped within Europe!
• Challenge closes on Monday 25th January 2010 at 9.00am GMT
• A winner will be chosen at random to receive a collection of PTI goodies!

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

Aimes , Dawn (& Kate from sunny L.A!)
xx

1. Laurel (Joining us again from the USA! Whoop!)
2. Karin (Another PTI fan from the USA sharing the inspiration!)
3. Nadine (entering from Hawaii with a her shiny new blog!)
4. Hanneke
5. Ingrid
6. Chris
7. Beverley
8. Jan
9. Vannessa
10. Aga
11. Mandy
12. Dana
13. Valerie
14. Katie
15. Margaret
16 Margaret (with a second fabulous entry!)
17. Hanne
18. Taheerah
19. Amy

Challenge – Macho, Macho Man!

Welcome to another challenge – I hope with all the festive madness you might be able to take a break from it all and stamp something!

Today’s challenge is all about the men in our lives because we want you to make a masculine card, can be any themed card – Christmas, birthday etc – and must include at least one PTI product.

I have made a card for the challenge, but now can’t find my cable to upload it to my computer!! So you’ll have to bear with me until I find it!

Here is Aimes’ sample:

“Well whilst the Christmas stamps are well and truly inked up I thought it best to make my masculine card a Christmas one! This one will most probably go to my honey – he loves green (just like me!)”
“I even created coordinating ribbon twine to coordinate by dragging some white twine through a smokey shadow ink cube. Just be sure to wash your fingers after as it’s very messy!”

Recipe Stamps: Holiday Tree/Vintage Labels Ink: New Leaf/Smokey Shadow/Fresh Snow Card: Smokey Shadow/New Leaf/Soft Stone Accessories: New Leaf Vintage Button/Cuttlebug/Cuttlebug Swiss Dot Embossing Folder/Nestabilities/True Black Saddle Stitch Ribbon/White Ribbon Twine

Also, as our featured December stamper, here’s Taheerah’s example:

Recipe
Stamps: Giga Guide Lines/Guide Lines II/Star Prints/Polka Dot Basics II
Ink: Dark Chocolate/Scarlet Jewel/VintageTouch Chai/Pure Poppy/Smokey Shadow/True Black/Versamark
Card: KraftDark Chocolate/Ripe Avocado/Scarlet Jewel/True Black/Rustic Cream/Smokey Shadow
Accessories: QuickKutz Embossing Folder/Nestabilities/Vintage Cream Topnotch Twill/Copics/Fiskars Star Punch

• All entries must contain at least one PTI product to qualify
• To enter, leave a comment with a link to your post featuring the project on your blog or online gallery
• Worldwide entries are more than welcome to share the inspiration, but unfortunately prizes can only be shipped within Europe!
• Challenge closes on Monday 28th December at 9.00am GMT
• A winner will be chosen at random to receive a collection of PTI goodies!

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

Kate and Aimes xx

1. Clare
2. Paulina
3. Aga

Raspberry Suite Challenge

Just in time to enter Dawn’s current color challenge! (Cutting it fine again!)

I loved the look of this combo but struggled a bit putting it together.. anyway here’s how my card turned out in the end:

Recipe: (Papertrey unlesss otherwise stated)

Stamps – Vintage Labels/Rustic Snowflakes/Signature Christmas
Ink – Pure Poppy/Vintage Cream/Dark Chocolate
Card – Kraft/Vintage Cream/Aqua Mist/Dark Chocolate
Other – Aqua Mist ribbon/brown brads/Fiskars border punch/Labels One die/Cuttlebug embossing folder/adhesive pearls

Can you believe the Papertrey October sneak peeks have started already?! Some more Christmas sets by the look of it… have I got room for any more?! (Silly question lol!)

Have a good week and thanks as always for visiting!

Kate x