i {heart} papers

Friday, October 29, 2010

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!

Monday, October 25, 2010

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!

Sunday, October 24, 2010

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!

Friday, October 22, 2010

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!

Thursday, October 21, 2010

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!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

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!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

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!

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: