Hellos, good-byes, new products and a giveaway!

This week, as I’ve been reflecting on the story of BooBoo and how she came into our lives and how things are ever-changing, IHP has undergone changes.   Another guest designer has come and gone (thanks again, Michele!)  and Lynn has stepped down from the design team, as I mentioned yesterday.  But with the good-byes there’s also a BIG HELLO!  We’re adding a new IHP position, Social Media Coordinator, to help me keep up with things.  After almost 4 years of IHP, I have come to realize that I can’t do it all.  *gasp* 

I’m so thrilled to introduce and welcome Taylor Usry to IHP officially!  She’s been unofficially helping with some Gourmet Rubber Stamps samples for me over the past couple months but now she’s officially part of the team!  And I couldn’t be happier.  (I prefer hellos much more than good-byes!)

I want to assure you that I will still be accessible to you for product questions, friendly banter or anything else.  Taylor will be helping me get things posted to the blog, Facebook and Twitter in a more timely manner than I am able to do on my own (packing orders and behind the scenes stuff always takes priority…that’s how your packages arrive so quickly!) and will spotlight more crafty things from the DT.  Generally she’s going to be helping me to help you all stay in the loop and inspired.  And I’m hoping that we’ll be able to get some customer challenges and giveaways going more regularly too once we’re really in the swing of things.  So, stay tuned!

If you don’t already know Taylor, here’s a little bit about her:
“Hello! My name is Taylor Usry, and I live with my husband and two kids in southern Virginia. I’ve been an avid crafter my whole life, but I’ve only been obsessed with paper crafting for the last 9 years or so.  I cannot remember a time when I didn’t have a crayon, marker, glue stick, ribbon, or something crafty in my hands!

I’m often asked if I have a particular style – I’d say it’s eclectic. There really isn’t much I don’t like, or anything I won’t try. I love every aspect of the creative world.  

I’m honored to currently be part of several talented design teams, and am absolutely thrilled to be working with i {heart} papers as the Social Media Coordinator!  You can see my work on my blog.”
And NOW onto the new goodies!  There are new releases from Gourmet Rubber Stamps including 4 sets that have been packaged exclusively for IHP from GRS.   So, for those of you who have been hesitant to buy the complete Diners Set, now have the option of buying a few of the singles packaged together.  My favorite one is this Pinwheel and Ice Cream set.

There are also three new Paper Smooches sets.  I especially the Space Cadet set for all my nerdy friends (you know who you are) and the Squeaky Clean set.  But, if you have a teen, tween or are married to a big kid at heart, then you’re going to need the Teen Routine set.  So…I guess what I’m saying is I love them all.  :)
OK, that’s it for today.  Thanks for sticking with me through all these.  I know it was a LOOOONNNG post!  But, if you’ve read this far, be sure to go over to Taylor’s blog.  She’s going to be doing a giveaway for a $10 IHP gift certificate.  Details on her blog!  GO NOW! 

Have a great rest of your weekend!

NSR: Reflections

Hello!  A little non stamping post from me today.  Today marks one year that our second dog, BooBoo came into our lives.  (She’s the very scared one on the left here, still on the transport van that brought her from KY to NJ.)  But, as many of you might remember, before we could take her home, she escaped from the van.  Before we could  even put our hands on her, she broke out of her collar and bolted.  We would spend the next 9 days frantically looking for this sweet girl as she was lost and very afraid in the foreign woods of NJ. 
For those nine days my world completely stopped turning, doing overnight stakeouts, sleeping about 3-5 hours a night, not working, barely eating - all for a dog I had never actually met.  (I had been following her story and the need for her to be rescued for almost a month on Facebook and we had finally decided to foster her (in the hopes of adopting if our other dog, Mr. Barbo liked her.  Truth be told I was already in love with her before she even came to NJ and each day that passed, I grew more and more worried and fell more and more in love.) 
We are so incredibly lucky we caught her, thanks in part to lots of volunteers, a lot of people calling from flyers we hung and also to her brother Blaze, seen here.
Now she is my little shadow, her and Barbo adore each other and I can’t imagine life without her.  I guess it’s all part of the cycle of hellos and good-byes.  People, things, animals all come and go in our lives. 

I’ll have some IHP good-byes and hellos over the weekend so please check back!  Thanks for stopping in!

Happy World Card Making Day 2011

HELLO!  We are celebrating THREE amazing years, serving the best customers, all over the world!  We're celebrating all week long with a color challenge, Facebook giveaways and of course, a coupon - kicking it off with World Card Making Day!

Here’s the week’s festivities, although I might mix it up a little just to keep you on your toes!  *grin* 

Today, October 1 - World Card Making Day!  Make a card and upload it to our Facebook wall and show off some products you've gotten from us.  All entries will be eligible for a Facebook exclusive giveaway!  Use code 3bday for 20% off everything in the store.   No exceptions or exclusions!  And as always, free shipping with your $50US/$150CAN order.

October 2 & 3 - Facebook giveaways.  Send your crafty friends to like us and have them tell us you sent them!

October 4 - secret Facebook happening (won't be announced until that day) with THREE gift certificates being given away.

October 5 - IHP Logo Color Challenge.  We would love if you would join us in making a project of your own (upload to your blog and link to the Mr. Linky on the IHP blog (that day’s post), upload to our Facebook page or an online gallery with the keyword IHPBB2011).   Deadline to enter is Saturday 12pm EST.

October 6 - more Facebook giveaways!  Send your crafty friends to like us and have them tell us you sent them!

October 7  - Facebook giveaways and Operation Julie's Smile blog hop.  Hop along for your chance to win a $20 IHP gift certificate or one of the other amazing prizes donated for Julie's fundraiser.

ALL orders placed during the Bash (Oct 1-7) will be entered for your chance to win the grand prize $50 gift certificate drawing on Saturday .

Refer a friend who orders at least $25 and have them mention you in their order comments and you each receive an extra entry!

Daily Facebook winners will be announced on that day.  The winner of the $50 gift certificate will be announced on Saturday October 8 (evening).

Enjoy your day today and I hope to see you over on Facebook later!

Easy Canvas Prints Giveaway!

I have something VERY special today!  It’s sure to brighten your Monday for sure!  As crafters and more importantly, scrapbookers, we take A LOT of pictures, don’t we?  *grin*  Sometimes one picture is so special to you that it deserves to be seen all the time, not just when you look through your scrapbook.  Right?  And that’s how I felt about this picture (and a handful of others).  (BTW, I really love my dog.  Those of you who are regular readers know that already.) 

 
That’s Mr. Barbo, of course, overlooking a marsh on one of our many hikes together.  (Yes, my dog has his own Facebook page).

So, when I was contacted by EasyCanvasPrints.com to have a canvas made and to host a GIVEAWAY for an additional canvas on my blog, I jumped at the chance.  Honestly, the hardest part of the whole process was picking out which picture I wanted to use!  

After that was done, the rest was easy!  It took me about 5 minutes to go through their upload wizard.  It’s only 4 simple steps with additional options if you need to edit your picture or apply effects and then your canvas is ready!  They even have an image gallery if you need some ideas and they do custom sizes, if you have a need for that! 

A little over a week later, this arrived on my doorstep, nicely boxed and wrapped on the inside.

I made this video of me opening the box for you, so we can share the excitement together.  :)

So, as I said, they’re graciously giving me a canvas to give to one lucky winner!  There are 2 requirements.  You must like them on Facebook (and if you don’t already like IHP, why not?  Go do that now!) AND leave a comment on this post telling me what picture you would have turned into a canvas if you won.  You will win an 8”x10” canvas away with either gallery wrap thickness.  As I said in the video, I went with the 1-1/2” thickness so I can hang it on the wall without a frame or you can stand it up on a shelf or bookcase.

I will draw a random winner next week.  Deadline to enter is Sunday the 26th at midnight EST.  Good luck! 

See you tomorrow for MORE NEWS and our monthly DT Challenge.  You’re not going to want to miss it, so come on back!

Five Minute Friday: The Daily Dare’s 12 Days of Christmas

Hello and Happy New Year’s Eve!  Today I am hosting Day 7 for The Daily Dare’s 12 Days of Christmas.  Upload your creations to SCS using keyword DD12days07.  You have until midnight on January 9th to play any or all of the challenges.  Winners will be chosen and announced on Monday, January 10th.  Woo-hoo!

I am giving away a Silver & White goodie bag, including Silver Stickles, Silver Spica pen, Silver Liquid Pearls and assorted silver and white ribbons. 

My challenge to you to is to create a clean and simple card one color, one metallic and one neutral.  For my card, I used OCL’s White Christmas set, stamping the tree and greeting in Palette Seascape and the snowflakes in New Canvas.  I added some silver Stickles to the tree and to the snowflake centers and then some silver sheer ribbon (layered with some white satin).  My main image is cut from a Rectangle Nesties. 

Have a wonderful evening tonight ringing in the new year.  Be safe and I’ll see you back here on Monday.  Have a good weekend!

Color Throwdown

Hello! Today I’m sponsoring Color Throwdown (using Chicken Girl Design). How exciting! I hope you stop by and play along! You could win a 6 free digis! WOW!!



I did some Photoshop work on my Monkey Around digi to make my card today. First I decapitated my monkey (something I would normally never do!) and then I did some editing on the sentiment because the original sentiment was too big for the space I wanted to put it. (It’s a little naughty now. HAHA!) Anyway, this sort of thing is why I LOVE digis! It gives you so much flexibility and you don’t need a lot of compute skills to do it. All I used were my eraser tool and my cropping tool.
I loosely based my card on a sketch from the last Go To Sketches issue. I printed out my 5 monkey heads on Copic Medium Weight paper, used my small square Nesties to cut/emboss them and then colored them in. They’re popped up using some 1mm dimensional dots. Then I used my long rectangle Nesties to make the scallops on the top/bottom of the blue and on the bottom of my sentiment tag. My DP is from Kioshi and had almost all the colors from the challenge in it. Score! I finished it off with some small blossom gems.
In addition to the Color Throwdown DT showing you samples today, some of my DT girls are playing along as well (they’re not all using CGD digis so there’s lots of variety for you!) Go check them out!
Carolyn
Tracy
Lori
Gretchen
Loretta
Kendra
Carlie
Laura
Michele
Christy
Deb
Tammy
Have a great day! Thanks for stopping by!

Name The Newsletter contest

Just a reminder, in case you missed it in the last newsletter, that we’re holding a newsletter naming contest.  Deadline to submit entries is this Friday!

Come up with a name for us, and if we decide to use it you'll win a $25 gift certificate to i {heart} papers!

To enter, send us an e-mail (service@iheartpapers.com) with "Newsletter Name Contest" as the subject, and your brilliant idea for a newsletter name in the body of the e-mail. 

I’ll be back tomorrow with a card for the Color Throwdown!  I’m sponsoring it this week so be sure to check back!

DT Challenge and SOA Challenge

Happy Memorial Day!  I hope you’re taking some time to enjoy your day off and to ultimately remember why we all have this day off.

This card is serving double duty today.  As I mentioned, PCP is hosting a Stampin’ Out Alzheimer’s fundraiser beginning TODAY and IHP and the IHP Design Team are sponsoring a challenge.  So this card is a combination DT Challenge and my SOA Challenge card.  You can play along to get a change to win a Flower Soft assortment (hand selected by me!) that is valued at over $30.  The winner will get:

• Flower Soft PVA Glue
• Mini Bouquets and Mounts – Pink
• Flower Soft Heather Mix
• Flower Soft Bright Pink solid
• Flower Soft Baby Peach solid
• Flower Soft Pale Green solid
• Flower Soft Wires
• Sentiments - Elegant Wishes

All you have to do to play along is donate at least $5 to the SOA fundraiser HERE and then make a card or project that uses some sort of textured flower as your focal point.  It can be Flower Soft or flock or glitter or textured paper or any other flower that is textured. 

Additionally all SOA donors are invited to use an exclusive 10% off coupon through May 31 in our store off all items, including new and on sale items. And, as always free US shipping on orders $40 and over!  But, you have to donate and login over at SOA to see our ad to get the code!

PLUS…(as if that wasn’t enough!) go HERE and leave me a comment to tell me you donated and you’ll be entered into my special thank you blog candy drawing.

So…all those incentives plus amazing giveaways through other SOA sponsors (over 40 companies!) and a chance to reach out and make a difference for a very worthwhile cause…what more reason do you need to donate just $5!?!!?  GO NOW!!!!

Back to my card details…

For my card I kind of CASED myself because I love the look of the Sunshine Yellow Flower Soft as daisy middles.  So I used some fabric flowers I had and made them into daisies.  I used the Olive Vine ribbon for stems – cute huh?  The background is embossed with the new Impressabilities Butterfly.  The greeting is from Chelsea Greetings and is stamped in Paris Lights (P.S. – ALL PALETTE INKS ARE only $5.50 now!) onto a tag from Nesties Ribbon Tag Trio and is adhered with the sage faux suede ribbon. 

I love all the textures on this card – the Flower Soft, the suede ribbon, the embossing and the stems.  I wish you could feel it!

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day!

Five Minute Friday Owlie

Happy Friday!  I hope you have a nice Memorial Day planned!

I’ve got a few things to talk about.  First of all, how cute is this owl??  He is called a Feltie and he is from the new Sassafras Lass line Jungle Bungle.  He comes in a package with a few friends and they are are adorable!  The base of this card is SU! Garden Green, layered with SU! Summer Sun.  The little tree tag behind him is a sticker from Jungle Bungle.  There are some great shapes on this sheet and makes for a super quick card.  The ribbon is the Brown Leaf Vine and was the perfect tie-in to the tree/owl theme.  The greeting is from Chelsea Sentiments and I stamped it in Palette Burnt Umber and Sunflower.  Cute eh?

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Second, I would love for you to join me in PaperCraftPlanet’s Stampin’ Out Alzheimer’s week that is coming up.  I have a post (and blog giveaway!) about it here but I will summarize the details for you here: - Beginning May 25th and running through the 31st, PCP will be hosting a fast-paced, fun-filled week with amazing giveaways and a chance to make a difference for a very worthwhile cause.

- At the end of this event, 100% of the funds raised will be donated directly to the Alzheimer's Association.

- We are a proud sponsor and will be hosting a challenge during this special week as well as offering an exclusive coupon to those who donate.

- CLICK HERE to donate $5 and join the week long event!

- PASS THE WORD ALONG!

Lastly, be sure the check the NEW section of the website.  There are lots of new goodies including luscious 100% silk ribbon, new Our Craft Lounge sets and all of the new SPICA colors (shown at left)!  Copic has yet to provide the official color chart so I whipped this one up just for you to be able to see the new colors.  Aren’t they pretty?!!

Well, aren’t they?  Go get them now!!!  And, if you join the PCP SOA you can even use your exclusive coupon to get a discount on them!  How awesome is that??

Have a great weekend!  Thanks for stopping by!

CONTEST REMINDER

Just a reminder that TODAY is the last day to submit your suggestion for the "I Can't Call It Sticky Strip" contest HERE.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MERRY!

One of my fabulous DT members is celebrating her birthday today - Merry, aka Merrymoo2 on SCS. Stop by her gallery or blog and leave her some love.

She is an amazing stamper and an even more amazing friend. But most of all, she is a terrific mom and VERY experienced shopper - especially for craft supplies, baby carriers and bags. Can you tell? :)

Love you Mer!!


Don't forget to scroll down for the NAMING CONTEST (ends on the 20th) and for my HUGE SU sale.

And, continuing with our month of blog candy, THREE more DT members will be posting blog candy this week. Be sure to check the whole team out to see who!!! They are all listed on the side bar.

I can't call it Sticky Strip CONTEST!!!

So...since I can't call it that, I'm holding a contest to have you name it! It is a MONSTER roll - 60 YARDS of 1/4" super sticky strong red line tape. It is packaged and wound especially for us but is the same material that some cars are held together with. It is heat resistant up to some crazy high temperature because of that. How nuts is that? I don't think we're going to be playing with super high heat on our PAPER projects but that just goes to show you how strong and amazing this stuff is. And, at 22 cents a YARD, it can't be beat.

So...what do you think it should be called? Leave your suggestions here or over on our PCP group. I'll pick a winner on Nov 20 and winner will receive a free roll. I promise, once you try it, you'll be STUCK on it! HAHAHA! I crack myself up!

And, don't forget to check my I QUIT SU! TO OPEN THIS STORE sale. Make me an offer!