Five Minute Friday: Fall Pumpkin

Hello!  Happy Friday and happy Halloween weekend!

I whipped together this little happy fall card using The Petal Press set Happy Harvest for the greeting (stamped in Palette Orangerie and Moulin Rouge) and a Bling It On rhinestone pumkpin, mounted on a large scalloped circle Nesties.  The two trips of paper are from none other than, wait for it…wait for it…Hippy Girl!  Who guessed it?  *grin*

The background is embossed with the A2 Vine embossing folder and that is it!  Clean and simple and under 5 minutes. 

I hope you have a great weekend.  I should have some interesting pictures for you next week! 

Thanks for stopping by today!

Mint Motif Monday

Happy Monday! Today I have a quicky, quirky Charlie Brown card using Beyond Borders and Very Square Sentiments – to help usher in the new Mint Motif design team and saying good-bye to our current, inaugural team.

(I also used circle Nesties, black Palette ink and yellow glimmer ribbon overlayed on black faux suede.)

First, the good-byes and thank yous to our current team. You girls helped launch this fresh, new line off the ground and thought of ways to use Kimberly’s stamps that I never would have. Thank you for you work and dedication to us over these past 6 months:

Latisha Yoast
Geny Cassady
Kazan Clark
Julie Overby
Charlene Austin

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Beginning November, the new MM team will be (in addition to me and Kimberly):

Geny, our new design team coordinator
Bonnie
Julie
Melissa
Tobi
Ryann

Please visit them today and leave them some love and congratulations. (Hint...you *really* want to visit them...we are giving away TEN stamp sets drawn from all the comments left on the new design team blogs between now and Tues. Oct 26 10pm CDT. Winners will be announced on Kimberly's blog later this week.)

I am SO looking forward to seeing with they do with the two upcoming November release sets. Sneaks begin on Nov. 11.

Thanks for stopping by today!

NSR: Mr. Barbo…one year later

One year ago today, this was the first picture of our new pup, Mr. Barbo (previously named Sloppy Joe).

He was (and is!) super sweet and amazingly adorable. He hopped right in the car and then hung over the back seat like this while we put his “stuff” in the back, smiling the entire time.

Over the next few days and months we fell in love with him. He makes us smile every day and you can’t help but adore him...he’s just so darned cute! He loves to fall asleep

on his back with his belly totally exposed and his front feet tucked in(he did that the first day), sometimes with his bone in his mouth.

He’s everything we needed after Bandit died. He’s the most cuddly little pup…not very smart but sweet and affectionate and completely loveable.

I’m so incredibly grateful to Brent Hill, Nancy Gulick, Lynn Merli and Pilots ‘n Paws for rescuing him.

PnP is non-profit group of volunteers and pilot volunteers who help transport dogs who are about to be killed in high-kill shelters or overfilled shelters all over the country and relocate them to places where they can find their “furever” homes. Our little guy came from Danville, IL through Chicago then Baltimore and finally to NYC and then home to NJ. He’s a well flown pup! If you’re looking for a place worthy of donating money to…please consider them. They are guardian angels for these dogs, literally pulling them off of death row and bringing them to loving, adoptive homes. You can read plenty of their flight stories on the PnP Facebook page. His post read “This has become URGENT. They will have to get him out or put him down, he’s just handling being caged, and a sweetheart but depressed.” It makes me cry to think that he was days away from death.

Anyway, I’ll stop rambling now. I just wanted to commemorate this day. If you want to follow Mr. Cutie Pie himself, feel free to head over to his Facebook

fan page. There’s coverage of his transport, videos of him and plenty more.

Thanks for stopping by today. Check back in tomorrow for the Mint Motif DT announcement!

Birthday Bash winners!

(No Five Minute Friday post this week…) 

Note:  Our web host went down a little after midnight so if you tried to order or do the scavenger hunt and had a problem, don’t worry…I will honor all orders and scavenger hunt entries through the weekend.  (We will be moving hosting companies soon…which will require some downtime when it happens but it will be PLANNED.  This host is just giving me too much of a headache lately!)  Moving on…

The Birthday Bash was a huge success, and from what I can tell, everyone who participated had a great time.  Our Facebook page was hopping with activity all three days and we added a lot of new members to our PCP group.  I hope you all stick around even though the Bash is over.  *grin*

First some mushiness.  Thank you to my amazing design teams and my guest designers who participated in the big blog hop.  You all did incredible projects and I am so proud to know you and work with each of you.  A special thanks to my core design team, most of which have been with me since day one.  I’m so honored to call each of one of you my friend, all because I decided to open a little online store to feed my habit and supply my close friends.  It was the best move I ever made. 

A very special thanks to Deb, my wonderfully talented friend and DT challenge coordinator, who worked long and hard to make sure these three Birthday Bash days came together as they needed to and did!  I certainly couldn’t have done it without you.

And to each one of you, my customers, who come back time and time again and who I try to serve as quickly and efficiently and friendly as possible.  Without you, none of this would exist or be possible.  So, thank you.  And please know that my phone line and email is always open for suggestions, questions, recommendations or just to chat.  I need to know what you want or need or wish I carried in order to continue to serve you and make i {heart} papers the place you tell all your friends about! 

Thank you all for making these two years possible and exciting and rewarding and I look forward to many more years of serving you and getting to know you more and more.

And now..what you’ve all been waiting for – the winners!

Day 1:  The Perfect Pair winners are Jeanette (her Perfect Pair is here and Tara (here Perfect Pair is here). 

Day 2:  Kate’s Favorite Sketch challenge winners is Jennifer R.  (You can see her take on the sketch here.) 

Day 3:  Gift card holder challenge winner is Tanya.  You can see her awesome project here. 

PaperCraftPlanet group member winners:  Ruby Taylor and Jennifer Scull. 

Facebook:  This is me doing my best Oprah impersonation.  There were three giveaway threads this week plus if you posted to our wall, commented, uploaded a picture (prior to 3am Friday EST) or participated in either this or this or this thread, above my ***** entry, then you are the winner of a $5 off your next $10 order coupon.  (Sorry…only one per customer and can’t be applied towards previous orders or combined with any other discount.)  Contact me with “Facebook coupon” in the subject for your code.  That’s a lot of winners…at least count it was over 40.

Newsletter winners (if I didn’t have your name, it’s just the first part of your email address):  Donna Lyons, Holly Osbourne, NYTriplet Mommy & Grandma Lee T. 

And finally, the grand prize winner of the $50 gift certificate is Erika!  Congrats!

Winners please contact me with your address!!  Congrats!

Be sure to stop back on Monday for the announcement of the new Mint Motif design team.  Have a great weekend!

Birthday Bash Day 3 – Gift Card Challenge

Hello and welcome to Day 3 of the i {heart} papers 2^nd Birthday Bash! If you missed the posts from earlier this week please scroll down so you don’t miss a thing. It’s not too late to play along so go back to Tuesday’s post and start there.

You’ll want to be sure you participate in the scavenger hunt/blog hop to earn your 20% off coupon (and see some really amazing projects from 25 incredible designers!).

Today’s challenge is a gift card holder challenge. Deb is hosting it and has some links for templates and ideas on her blog, as well as a Mr. Linky for you to leave your project on to be entered into the drawing for today.

Please be sure to tag your uploads with IHPBB10GC.

Winners for each day will be randomly drawn from the day's challenge entries, and everyone who plays along, either with the challenges and/or the scavenger hunt will be eligible for the grand prize drawing that will close the festivities tomorrow!

Additionally, ALL orders placed during the Bash (Oct 19-21) will receive a free goodie bag of surprise merchandise. The more you spend, the bigger your goodie bag!

Also, there will be random drawings for additional prizes from our PaperCraft Planet group members, our mailing list (sign up on the right side of the homepage) and our fans on Facebook. If you are on all three, then you’ve got triple the chances to win!

Here’s my take on the challenge. I used a standard A2 envelope and covered it with (more) Hippy Girl paper, including the little tag. I added some Crystal Stickles to the tag. I love that Kaiser 6x6 pads come complete with borders, die-cuts, tags and the papers themselves are often glittered, embossed, flocked, etc. The ribbon is ivory faux suede, one of my favs!

I stamped the greeting from Very Square Sentiments in Palette L’Amour Red and then added and a brad from the Bittersweet Glazed Brads.

I do hope you’ll play along. Deadline to enter is Friday morning 3AM EST. Thanks for stopping by today!

Birthday Bash Day 2: Sketch

Hello and welcome to Day 2 of the i {heart} papers 2^nd Birthday Bash! If you missed yesterday’s post, be sure to scroll down to participate in the scavenger hunt/blog hop to earn your 20% off coupon (and see some really amazing projects from 25 incredible designers!)Today’s challenge is a sketch challenge. Be sure to post your direct link on this post, either as a comment or in Mr. Linky and tag your uploads with IHPBB10S.

Tomorrow Deb will be hosting another challenge for you.

Winners for each day will be randomly drawn from the day's challenge entries, and everyone who plays along, either with the challenges and/or the scavenger hunt will be eligible for the grand prize drawing that will close the festivities on Friday.

Additionally, ALL orders placed during the Bash (Oct 19-21) will receive a free goodie bag of surprise merchandise. The more you spend, the bigger your goodie bag!

Also, there will be random drawings for additional prizes from our PaperCraft Planet group members, our mailing list (sign up on the right side of the homepage) and our fans on Facebook. If you are on all three, then you’ve got triple the chances to win!

Here’s my take on the sketch. I used Hippy Girl paper, including the little tag. Kaiser 6x6 pads come complete with borders, die-cuts, tags and the papers themselves are often glittered, embossed, flocked, etc. They’re awesome!

I stamped the greeting from Very Square Sentiments in Palette Orangerie and then added some bling on the scallops. The ribbon is this amazing cream pleated satin ribbon.

I do hope you’ll play along. Deadline to enter is Friday morning 3AM EST.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Birthday Bash Day 1 – Blog Hop and Scavenger Hunt

Hello and welcome to the i {heart} papers 2^nd Birthday Bash blog hop and scavenger hunt! I am the first stop on the hop so if you’re just starting (or if you’re lost!) then you’re in the right place! Be sure to go through them all. There are scavenger hunt details below. You don't want to miss a thing so I know it’s a lot to read but it’s worth it!

Today we’re celebrating two great years of IHP and are delighted to have some fabulous guest designers playing along with our talented design team members to bring some birthday paper-crafting inspiration your way! Our design team and guests are revealing their creations for this month's design team challenge--to design the "Perfect Pair"--a birthday card and coordinating gift, tag or other presentation item.

We would love if you would join us in making a Perfect Pair of your own (upload to your blog or an online gallery with the keyword IHPBB10). Be sure to post your link on THIS POST so we can see your project and enter your name in our challenge prize drawings.

In addition to today's design team challenge, we've got some fun celebrating in store for tomorrow and Thursday! Don't worry - you won't have to hop every day! I will be hosting a sketch challenge tomorrow here, and Deb has another challenge for you on Thursday.

Winners for each day will be randomly drawn from each day's challenge entries, and everyone who plays along, either with the challenges and/or the scavenger hunt (more on that below) will be eligible for the grand prize drawing that will close the festivities on Friday.

Submitting your challenge projects is not the only way to win!

Tucked into the text of today's blog posts we've provided clues to an easy scavenger hunt (most have to do with our favorite products and tools or hobbies and interests we have) that we invite you to play as you hop. When you find the answer, click the link to visit the store and collect "evidence" that is listed on that particular product’s page and email your complete list, in blog hop order, to Kate when you're finished. You can take your time and stretch the hop over the three days of our Birthday Bash celebration...it's not a race, but like any other sale, the earlier you shop, the better the selection! Deadline to submit your scavenger hunt entry is Friday morning, 3AM EST.

By participating in the scavenger hunt you'll receive an exclusive, one time use 20% off coupon code to use when you shop at i {heart} papers. (This will be emailed to you after the Bash when entries are checked.) You will also be entered for your chance to win the grand prize $50 gift certificate drawing on Friday.

ALL orders placed during the Bash (Oct 19-21) will receive a free goodie bag of surprise merchandise. The more you spend, the bigger your goodie bag!

Also, there will be random drawings for additional prizes from our PaperCraft Planet group members, our mailing list (sign up on the right side of the homepage) and our fans on Facebook. If you are on all three, then you’ve got triple the chances to win!

Here is my Perfect Pair. I made a card, coordinating gift tag and the coordinating bow for the package. I used Chicken Girl Design Silly Monsters (hint, hint), colored with Copics and Hippy Girl paper from Kaiser. All images were stamped in Palette inks and then I finished them off with some burgundy faux suede ribbon.

Your next stop on the hop is Carolyn. If you get lost along the way you can stop back here and don’t forget to come back tomorrow for a sketch challenge!

Master Blog Hop List, in case you get lost:

1. Kate
2. Carolyn
3. Cathleen
4. Charlene
5. Deb
6. Geny
7. Gretchen
8. Jennifer
9. Joan
10. Judy
11. Julie
12. Kazan
13. Kendra
14. Kimber
15. Kimberly
16. Latisha
17. Laura
18. Loretta
19. Lori
20. Lynn
21. Megan
22. Michele
23. Rebecca
24. Tammy
25. Tracy

Mint Motif winners!

Nothing crafty today – I’m getting ready for the BIG BIRTHDAY BASH tomorrow so I’m just popping in to congratulate  the following winners of the newest Mint Motif sets!  Winners were chosen at random from all the comments left on the release day posts of the Mint Motif designers. 

Michelle Gross from Julie's blog, she wins Beyond Borders:

Michele Gross said...
Oh! fun project! Love the little gift tin and all the border layers are just fab!
October 14, 2010 6:19 PM

Tanya from Latisha's blog, she wins Very Merry Sentiments:

Tanya said...
These are so cute! Love the sparkle and the twine!
October 14, 2010 1:12 PM

Please email Kim with your addresses.

Be sure to stop in tomorrow.  It’s the beginning of the IHP 2nd Birthday Bash and there is lots lined up including a scavenger hunt that earns you a discount coupon, challenges, lots of giveaways (are you on the newsletter, on our Facebook page and on our PCP group?  You should be!  There will be drawings from each of those groups!) and more. 

Check back tomorrow for the blog hop and all the details!

NSR: Forging Foreshadows (15% off IHP coupons available!)

Us crafty people tend to associate with other crafty people…even if their craft isn’t the same as ours.  I am fortunate that my general pool of friends is FILLED with crafty and artistically talented folks and several of them are collaborating on this amazing new cyberfiction anthology and soundtrack.  I thought that some of you may be, or have hubbys or friends who are sci-fi/fantasy/Dungeons & Dragons geeks.  If so, this project is something they’ll want to know about.  I guarantee it.  Just take a minute to look at the list of contributors and you’ll see several well-known authors and musicians.

Anyway, watch the trailer.  I’m trying to help spread the word and make this project happen.  So…anyone who pledges $20 or more and mentions i {heart} papers will be rewarded with a 15% off coupon from me, as a personal thanks.  And, if you can’t pledge, please help spread the word to anyone you know.  It’s a truly unique and revolutionary project and I’d really love to see it happen.

Have a great weekend!  I’ll be back on Monday with the winners of the Mint Motif giveaway from release day!

Five Minute Friday: Mint Motif Fishy

Happy Friday!  Phew…LOTS of posts from me this week!  I’ve been a busy stamper!

Today I have a quicky card using more Mint Motif sets.  Again I cut apart one of the borders from Beyond Borders and made a little fishy (stamped in Palette Orangerie).  I covered him with Orange Peel Stickles.  Then I used some scraps of vellum I had around to make my waves, added some Zva bling and stamped the greeting from Very Square Sentiments and then I was done!

I’ve got to keep it short today…I’m busy gearing up for our BIG 2 year Birthday Bash next week.  Hint, hint…you’ll want to make sure you’re a fan on Facebook, on the newsletter (signup on the right side on the homepage) and a member of our PaperCraft Planet group.  Just sayin’!

Have a great weekend!

Santa Suit: Mint Motif release day!

Happy Mint Motif release day! I have a card today for you that uses Beyond Borders in an unusual capacity. As soon as I saw this one pattern I immediately though “belt buckle.” Add that to Very Merry Sentiments and out comes a santa suit card!

But, before I go on, here are the two new sets in their glory:

So, as you can see, I stamped the pattern in Palette Paris Lights and cut it out to create my buckle. I coated it with some Icicle Stickles (LOVE the way my camera caught the light in the picture…that sparkle was NOT Photoshopped!) and then added a little clear bling on the sides, because, every Santa belt needs some bling, right? I cut out the white stripe using my Jumbo Scalloped Petite Borderabilities and then used the belt and the buttons to cover up the holes it cuts. The buttons are coated with Black Diamond Stickles. Finally I masked one of the greetings from Very Merry Sentiments and stamped it in Palette L’Amour Red.

Be sure to stop by the other design team blogs to see their great creations. Kimberly will be drawing two winners from ALL the comments left on ALL the blogs. One winner will get Beyond Borders and the other will get Very Merry Sentiments so the more you comment, the better your chances!

Kimberly Crawford – designer
Latisha Yoast
Geny Cassady
Kazan Clark
Julie Overby
Charlene Austin

Have a great day! Thanks for stopping by today!

Christmas Tag :Mint Motif Sneak Peek

Hello!  I’m here today with a sneak peek of the TWO newest Mint Motif sets, which will be available on the 14th.  Beyond Borders, which I used to create the background on my Standard Tag, has a variety of 5-3/4” long patterns that you can use for border, backgrounds and more.  The other set is Very Merry Sentiments is a versatile holiday sentiment set and can be used on their own or with Very Square, since they coordinate, just like Very Square Sentiments.  It is the same popular shape and clean font that you all loved so much.

I used Palette L’Amour Red and Giverny Green to ink my background and then made a ribbon flower from the red grosgrain pleated ribbon.  I finished it off with some natural twine through the hole at the top.

Please stop by the other design team blogs to see their great creations. 

Kimberly Crawford – designer
Latisha Yoast
Geny Cassady
Kazan Clark
Julie Overby
Charlene Austin

Have a wonderful Monday!  See you again soon!

Wanna Gobble You Up: CGD release day

Hello! I’m here today witha rare Sunday post for me because it is Chicken Girl release day!

I’m using the Gobble You Up digi from the new October Collection. Isn’t he adorable? Now, I’m a vegetarian so I don’t eat turkey on Thanksgiving (I’m more prone to adopting a turkey so they get spared!) but I still think this guy is the cutest. I colored him with my Copics and added some Glossy Accents to his eyes and feathers. I used my Labels 10 to cut him out and then added a few yellow bling for accents. The orange and burgundy papers are both from the new Kaiser Hippy Girl line. The orange has a little line pattern and the burgundy has some leaves – perfect for fall! I finished it off with some faux suede burgundy ribbon.

Please be sure to stop by the rest of the design team to see their projects and you’ll definitely want to stop back tomorrow because I’ll have sneak peek of the two new Mint Motif sets for you!

Loretta
Lori
Tammy
Michele
Laura
Judy

See you again soon! Have a great day!

Five Minute Friday: Distressy OCL Halloween

Hi there!  Just  a quicky OCL card today using one of their new Halloween sets, On the Fence and Mummy X-ing.  I clear embossed the fence and then sponged some Palette New Canvas over the black.  I took a scrap of paper from Spooks and tore the edge for the side piece and then I sponged and tore the focal image greeting.   A quicky, dsitressy card…a little out of my comfort zone.  :)

The CDG release is Sunday and the Mint Motif sneak peeks begin on Monday so be sure to check back soon!  Thanks for stopping by today!  Have a great weekend!

Chicken Girl Scarecrow: Autumn Greetings

Happy hump day!  I’m looking forward to the weekend, are you?  Fall is my absolute favorite time of year so to celebrate while I was baking an upside-down pear/apple pie I used Scarecrow Greetings from the September Collection from Chicken Girl.  I printed out two images on Copic Heavyweight cardstock and colored them with Copics.  I used the second image to pop up the hat, pumpkin and the overalls.  If you look closely I even stuck some shredded natural twine under the hat for his hair.  The same twine is twisted together and knotted to make the ribbon across the middle.  The DP is from SEI’s Spooks line.  I love that pattern!!  The top panel is embossed with my A2 Vines folder and then lightly sponged over it with some Palette New Canvas. 

Once I was done, my pie was done too!  After I flipped it over this is what it looked like.  And boy was it yummy!
Thanks for stopping by.  The new Chicken Girl release is on Sunday so be sure to stop back them for a look at all the new images.  Have a great day!

Five Minute Friday: Apple of My Eye

Phew…I finally grabbed 5 minutes in the studio to make this little cutie using the Apple of my Eye digi from the September Collection from Chicken Girl Design.  I printed him on Copic Heavyweight cardstock and then colored him with Copics.  I used the Lacey Squares from Spellbinders to cut him out.  I love these squares!

The strip of paper is from the Kaiser Craft Christmas line, Be Merry.  These KC pads are amazing little 6x6 pads.  They are glittered, flocked, varnished and even have little die cuts!  You can see the sparkle on the green in the paper.

That’s it!  I can’t believe it is October already.  Only 85 days until Christmas!  Eeek!  Have a good weekend!!