Pretty, Pretty papers

I love the Vintage Sarapapers that came with my kit this month, they are so pretty! I've made some cards and an ATC using them. For the card on the left, I've used a 'love' stamp that was free with a magazine. It works really well for this technique. At the bottom of the card I put a strip of plain pink paper. I'm saying plain paper but they aren't plain, they have a wonderful distressed look. I covered the main body of the card with the small floral paper and cut the bottom edge with scalloped scissors. I cut another strip of the plain pink and tied a piece of the lilac gros grain ribbon out of my kit around it then stuck it to the front of the card. I stamped the image twice. Once onto the plain pink paper and again onto the small floral paper. I cut the image stamped onto the plain paper out with deckle edged scissors and left a small border around it. I cut right to the edge of the image on the floral paper. I stuck the image with the border onto the front of the card. On the second image I punched a heart shape out of the middle of it. I put foam pads on the back and stuck it on top of the other image matching it up with the image underneath The plain image shows through where the shape is cut out. I cut another heart out the the gorgeous sheet of lilac glimmer paper and glued it to the front of the card. I love the glimmer paper in the kit! I inked all the edges and the card was finished. I'm quite pleased with it.

The second card was made using the two shades of pink Vintage Sarapapers paper out of my kit. All the Sarapapers in my kit are tones of pinks and lilacs, lush! The stamp I used here is one from my stash that I've never used and I can't remember where I got it from now, sorry!! You can use any stamp though because the papers are so versatile. The friends forever stamp is a Dovecraft stamp. I cut the piece of the paler pink paper at the bottom of the card with a large scalloped edge scissors and tied a piece of American Crafts ribbon around it before I stuck it to the card. I stamped the image and coloured it in with Tombow pens. I coloured it quite loosely because I didn't want it to look too perfect? You'll have to click on the image to see what I mean! I cut the image out using small scalloped edge scissors and matted it onto a scrap of 8 x 8 HOTP Retro cardstock. I use this cardstock a lot. It comes in pads and its co-ordinated to match HOTP 8 x 8 papers . It comes in so many colour and is such good quality I love it. I've orderd a few more pads this week because I'm nearly out!! Back to business! I matted that onto a piece of the small floral paper and fixed it to the card with foam pads. I inked all the edges as always! I like this card too. I wasn't sure if the colours in ribbon would work but they do.

My final offering is an ATC. Again I used a stamp that was free with a magazine! I stamped it onto some brown card from my stash with a Brilliance ink pad but any light colour inkpad would work. I put a little glitter glue around the edge of the clock. I covered the ATC with the Vintage Sarapaper in pink and stamped over it with a background stamp to make it look a bit more distressed. I cut the letters from the HOTP letter sheet in my kit and chalked them in blue and green and inked all the edges. I ink the edges a lot in my stuff. I like the effect but it's practical too as it hides a multitude of sins LOL! The last thing I added was a gorgeous little gold egg timer charm, it's so pretty.

Life is Measured in Moments

I have to admit when I opened this kit and saw all those lovely American Crafts papers, I panicked, mine were all from the wedding collection and were all grey, but having spent plenty of time playing with them and stroking them I now really like them, I have realised that the grey allows the pictures to really stand out whilst being a easy, neutral colour to work with, it really is very flexible!! So on that note, this is my latest LO from the kit.
These are pictures of my parents wedding from 1975, I decided to mount all the pictures onto the blue glimmer paper from the Vintage Sarapapers collection, it really is beautiful, (but unfortunately it doesn't scan as nicely as I would like) and then I laid them onto the American Crafts Wedding "Tulle" paper, these are lovely to work with and they have co-ordinating colours on the reverse. I laid the HOTP Marriage acetate overlay on the top for the title and I have held it in place with with a HOTP brad buddie from the Pretty Creative Kit. I finished it off in the bottom right corner with a "Time" charm which reads "Life Is Measured In Moments".

Another Christmas pressie idea!

On my ever-continuing quest to save money this year, here's another little pressie I've made.

I covered these jumbo playing cards with various HOTP Vintage Sarapapers (I inked the edges of everything with chalk ink in Chestnut Roan), then printed my recipes and stuck them down. The lettering on the front was done with these Helix Stencils and a brown fineliner. I added a paper bloom and the pink buttons are from the HOTP retro embellishabilities. I then stamped some swirls randomly on the pages (you could doodle these - I'm not brave enough! LOL) and then stapled on some American Crafts ribbon.

Waste not, and ye shall want not!

And the card as promised - a quickie with my scraps left over - again American Crafts papers, along with a little christmas tree charm and star brad, both available at Crop Til You Drop, and that gorgeous American Crafts ribbon! Added one of the embossed Christmas sentiments - these are great and add a nice touch to your cards, and they're so quick and easy! Just cut them out and you're good to go! I used a punch, but you could quite easily cut a nice scalloped edge on the open side of the card, then use a hole punch in each scallop, thread a bit of ribbon through and bobs your uncle!

It's a cracker!

Meaning my little man of course! This pic of him is from last Christmas - his first Christmas, and he had a great time as you can see! I wanted to try something a little different with the papers this time, and actually cut some of them up! So here it is.

Using the papers from American Crafts, hot cocoa, wrapping, and wassail (what fab names!) and the co-ordinating solid colours on the back - I cut my title, and the 'cracker' and 'present' shapes from these. The title was cut with my craft robo, but these fonts could easily be hand cut! I made my own cracker template which was nice and easy too.

I added some of the gorgeous American crafts ribbons, (which are perfect for these papers!!) for my bows and the tag on the pressie. If you pull the cracker top on the left - there is some more journalling in there, basically saying how Christmas means so much more with our little man in our lives, and how I look forward to Christmas again now he's here. Used a white gel pen for my journalling and a brown marker for my border around the edge of the page, and that, is basically it!!

Now, I have some scraps left over, and as I hate to waste ANYTHING, I think I might make a card for Phoenix's 'use your scraps' challenge from last Saturday, then I can get on with the challenge from this week - which Im really looking forward to aswell! Acetate is really popular at the minute and there's so much you can do with it! Off to get my thinking cap on....tatty byes!! I may be back, with the aforementioned card!

Challenge #14 Acetate Adventures!

Welcome to the Saturday Challenge!

This week the challenge is to use acetate. I bet you have some in your stash somewhere, even a little piece. If not, it is available here and here and even as part of your weekly rubbish I bet!! The challenge is open to all paper crafters...cards, ATCs, LO's, altered art projects, etc. as long as you use paper and acetate...*you're in!*

To start you off I've made a couple of examples. This card uses a small piece of acetate from which the tag is suspended, which gives a lovely *boingy* effect it doesn't keep still!

This is a really easy look to achieve, just use double sided tape to adhere the acetate to the card and the tag as shown.I've also made the covers of this Birthday book from acetate, which has been partly covered in Vintage Sarapapers and bound onto a suite of extra large playing cards, with a Bind it All. Though it could just as easily have been bound with ribbon or bookrings.

The inside pages of this book can be seen on my blog :)

If you've been paying attention ;-) you'll have noticed that the LO I posted on the 18th has a title made from the HOTP Father acetate overlay. What may be less obvious is that all 3 of these projects just used that one sheet of transparency!! A little really does go a long way...

Ok, so you've seen what I can do...now let me see your attempts!! E-mail your entries to us, and post in this thread to let everyone know that your work is in the gallery. Remember, there is a fabulous prize at the end of each month for our favourite challenge entry!

Good luck...and I look forward to seeing what wonderful ideas you all come up with!!

Cheap Christmas pressie!

I've decided that all my family this year are going to get at least one "made" gift each, and here's the first of them - a little shopping list clipboard.

The clipboard base was made from a sheet of chipboard, cut to 20 x 10cm. I then covered this with paper from the Vintage Sarapapers, added a couple of lengths of American Crafts ribbon to the bottom (the pink is the reverse of the pattern). The flowers are from the Retro embellishabilities and the Great Big Brad is from the Green Apple set. The bulldog clip is just an ordinary one you'd find in a stationery shop and the ribbon on the clip and to the side are from the HOTP Pretty Cardmaker's ribbons. (I punched the holes for the ribbon with my crop-a-dile, which are due back in stock very soon!)

Don't forget, there's still time to do Challenge #13, and pop back on Saturday at 6pm for our next challenge!

Lots of photos

No worries Alex, I must hang my head in shame because I'm later than usual posting tonight, I hate traffic!!!

Never mind all that though, I have to tell you about the mini album I've made. I am so pleased with it. It contains photos of my neice. In my last post I said I wasn't sure about the colours of the American Crafts double sided paper in my kit. (I say paper but it is actually a cardstock of fantastic quality). In my kit was the Bookshelf range and I chose Grimm and Milne. I used them to cover some jumbo sized playing cards that were in my kit. As I knew I would be using quite a few embellies I wanted to make the album fairly sturdy.

I've used one or two items not in the kit but they are mainly little scraps of card and paper for matting, and I used a couple of my own rubber stamps. Perhaps this mini album can be my challenge entry because I used some really small scraps. It pays not to throw anything away!! LOL

I cut the names from a HOTP Round Alphabet Sheet. I chalked them in pale blue and pink, added a bit of glitter glue around the edges and added a silk flower attached with a brad, from the HOTP Cardmakers Creative Pack in Earths Palette.

The second and third page is handwritten with a couple of flowers attached with HOTP brads. The stamped bracket on the on left hand page and the stamped pink flowers on the right side are from the HOTP bi-monthly stamp kit. If you take a look at the I Love Hot Off The Press forum you will find the details of how to get these stamps. In case you are wondering, the writing on the right page is Welsh. It says Hi! Who are you? I'm Lucy.

The fourth page has really lovely metal embellishments. I think they are like flowers but could as easily be used as stars. On the fifth page on the right I used a Helix Alphabet Template to write the word 'artist'. I added a HOTP Paper ribbon and the brads are from the Cardmakers Creative Kit in Pretty.
On the sixth page I cut a small strip of American Crafts ribbon and put the button on it. To make the button look like it had been stitched on, I threaded a very thin strip of paper through the holes and stuck it down at the back. I also punched a couple of flowers . On the opposite page I cut out a mini file folder from the HOTP Library Card Holder and Mini File Folder template. I die cut some letters to stick on the front of the folder.

I secured it with a Cardmakers Accents Pewter mini clip . This old school photograph was ripped slightly on the one side so I added another flower to hide the tear, which worked quite well!

At the edge of the graduation photograph, I die cut letters to spell BA Hons and stuck them onto a piece of torn vellum and punched a couple of flowers from some scrap paper. Vellum and papers scraps are from the Cardmakers Creative Pack in Icy Rainbow and finished it with a metal emellishment that I already had in my stash.

The final photograph is Lucy and I when the family went up to London for the day to visit her. We are opposite Buckingham Palace as I recall! I stamped the words onto vellum. I matted this onto a scrap left from the HOTP Cardmakers Creative Pack in Citrus, with brads form the Cardmakers Creative Kit in Earths' Pallette. To finish this page I attached a HOTP Really Big Brad and added a Really Big Brad Rub On with 'laugh' on it.

I inked the edges of practically everything LOL. I also cut some tabs from the Teresa's Folder and Tabs Template to add to the pages.

At the risk of repeating myself, I am so pleased with this. I like the one patterned page, one plain page and I've changed my mind about the American Crafts Cardstock, I love it! My neice is visiting the first weekend in Novemeber and I think she will love this mini album when she sees it!

I've also made a card and again I am particularly pleased with it (its all about me!) I used the 12 x 12 Vintage Sarapapers. These papers are gorgeous, subtle and muted but not dull. They don't have to be just for vintage photos. I stamped the card with a modern flower stamp. I matted the paper onto brown cardstock and stamped a modern flower image onto it. I coloured around the edges of the image lightly with Tombow pens. I wrapped some ribbon from my kit around a strip of brown card and added some HOTP brads at the top.

*gatecrashing and apologies*

Ooops!! Firstly, apologies for gatecrashing and posting when its not my turn *looks humble* and secondly, apologies for promising to post last night...and then not finding the time!! *looks humble again*



better late than never I reckon, so here is the card I was wanting to share with you:

I've made it from sections of 2 sheets of the American Crafts papers (soon to be available as a kit!!), one making the base of the card, and one made into a medallion motif using foam pads. In the middle of the medallion I've placed a Really Big Brad topped with a Really Big Brad Rub-On! The message on the left hand side is from the HOTP Cardmakers' Fragments selection. Finally, I rounded the corners on the right to soften the whole look.

What do you think?

Getting organised!!

First off, I'd like to give a lovely big welcome to Rebecca :)
Its so great to have you with us this month...you will certainly be keeping us all on our toes with your fantastic designs!

Secondly, I'd like to share my latest project...an attempt to get myself a little more organised in my crafting. I've designed a mini-book in which I can record my favourite ideas, doodle some sketches, make notes of designs I love, etc. and generally gather and hopefully refine, my creative designs!

I've made this book from the double sided American Crafts cardstock, which is ideal for this sort of thing as you will be seeing both sides of the card :) I've used Rowling, but any of them would work for this design. I've used a regular hole punch to make 2 holes and tied on a cute charm with co-ordinating ribbon. This makes the perfect binding for this kind of book as I can add or remove pages easily as the book fills up.

The title is made from the HOTP round alphabet sheet which I have coloured yellow with a felt tipped pen and doodled around in purple. The closure made from another small piece of ribbon and 2 of the button style brads.


The inside of the book is divided into 4 sections and I've made the dividers by cutting up squares of the matching Hornby cardstock and making tabs out of the double sided ribbon. The actual pages are simply taken from a regular notepad and hole punched.

I'd love to know what you think of this idea...and to see your examples if you have a go at making one...

Oooh yes...and I have something else to share today...but you'll have to wait 'til this pm for it...as I'm off to a crop now!!!

Happy today,
Alix

Hello

Hello All!,I'm Rebecca Nash and I'm feeling very honoured to be invited as a guest designer for this month! (aswel as a little nervous as this is the first time I've used a blog, and I'm hoping that I manage it OK)Well, a little about myself:I live in a country village on the outskirts of Sheffield with Chris and our chocolate lab, Hazel, and cockatiel, Rodney (so named because he's a right plonker). I work in a food micro testing lab and I also run a Guide Unit.I've been card making for about 5 years and discovered scrapping early this year, when I found lots of old family photos, and I love it!!! Have also recently had a go at inchies and ATCs. Consider myself well and truely addicted to paper-think they must put something in the ink to get you hooked!!!I've been playing with my prize for last months challenge, a great kit called "brad buddies and more". Couldn't believe how much there was inside the box! So far I've used the kit for my Circle Journal entry for this month. The theme I had this month was quotes, and given that this month has been manic I found lots of quotes about housework and how life is full of more important things! Hid some of the quotes under a flap that I made using a file divider that ame with the kit.I used the ice-cream section of the kit to make a 12x12 LO of one of the lilies I had growing in pots this year. I took the photo on a rainy day in August, and the flower looks gorgeous all covered in water droplets. Lastly, I have made the card that comes with the kit. This card folds down square, but when you stand it up it springs open and looks fab!Well, if you're still with me, Thanks for reading, hope to "speak" to you again,Byeeeeeeeeeeee

Outrageous Octoberfest Update!!

Check out these great offers, in store for one week only (all offers end Saturday October 27th, 4pm!)
" Personal Shopper Kits £10 (save £12.50 per kit!)
" Cardmaking Kits 2 for £10 (save £15!)
" 3 for £10 on chalk sets (save £19.97)
" Bead Sets 3 for £10 (save £10: great gift idea)
" Any 10 Peel Offs for £1 (save at least £5.00)
" Selected 12x12 10 for £1 (save £6.50)
" MIC Embellies 10 for £1 (save at least £8.90)
" Assorted 6x6 paper pads 3 for £10 & 5 for £10
" Assorted 12x12 Paper Pads 3 for £10
" Packs of Envelopes 10 packs for £5
" Helix Cardmaking Kits 3 for £10 & 4 for £10
" Brass Stencils 10 for £10
" Dovecraft Rubber Stamps any 10 for £5
" Liquid Beads 5 for £10 (plus FREE project book)
" Page Coasters 5 for £10
" Ellison Thin Cuts Dies & Easy Emboss Folders 4 for £10
" Ellison Thick Cuts Dies £10
" Bead Café Bead Packs (USP £3.99) 4 for £10
" Decorative Buttons & Flatbacks 10 for £10
" Dovecraft Dimensions 3D Stickers 10 for £10
" Dovecraft Embellishment Kits 3 for £10
" Selected Card Blanks 6 for £10
" Assorted Syntego Packs 10 for £1
" All Die Cut Budget Bits Panels 10 for £1
" Sizzix Paddle Punch Hammer & any 4 punches £10
" Selected Paper Punches 6 for £10
" Classy Accents Decorative Brads & Eyelets 10 for £10
" An extra 10% off everything when you subscribe to any monthly kit

PLUS: On Saturday only - Free Demonstrations, Free Prize Draws, Free Goody Bags for every visitor over 14 (no purchase necessary), Free Make N Takes, Free tea & coffee upstairs.
What a fab time to pay us a visit!!

And some more from me!

Well, I've been playing with my gorgeous DT kit again - and here's what I've made.

First up, for the LO, I used American Crafts Shakespear for the base cardstock, and the green stripes and spots papers are from the HOTP Vintage Sarapapers. The "Father" Overlay is also by HOTP and I attached this with plum coloured eyelets. I then threaded some American Crafts ribbon through the bottom eyelets.

I added the "My Dad" on top of the overlay using a permanent marker and Helix stencils. I then added a length of HOTP printed twill .

The card was made with my left over HOTP Vintage sarapapers and the A Muse flower drinks stamp. The scalloped squares were cut with Mega and Giga Marvy scalloped square punches and the flower and brad is from the HOTP Pretty Creative kit.

Don't forget to check out this week's challenge - a chance to use up those scraps we all have!

It's official - paper stroking is bad for your crafty health!!

I am loving these American Craft papers that we recently received in our DT kits!! After I had sat and stroked them for a while (!?), I knew which photos I wanted to use. As soon as I saw this set of papers, I initially thought - christmas! But then I remembered these photos from my mother & father in laws anniversary, and thought they would go well with the papers. I also used the round alphabet tiles from HOTP, to spell out the word 'family'. I chalked the edges using these shimmer chalks, then just went over the edges with some glue to add a bit of shine (wet glues can be found here). I wanted to make the absolute most of these papers and waste nothing, so I used some of the remaining paper to create the little file folder containing the journalling. To decorate the front, I covered a circular slide mount with some scraps of paper pieced together, then added a HOTP Big Brad, with a rub on saying 'good times'. These rub ons come in all sorts of patterns and letters, available in Black and White too, and are just perfect for the big brads - but could lend themselves to any crafty project!

When I was photographing the LO I had a little chuckle to myself, because I thought - Charl - you have barely hacked into the bold patterned sheet!! I think the paper stroking didnt help matters there lol, but I promise - I will be more daring with my next project!!

I made the card using the scraps left over from the LO - I didnt want to waste a single piece of paper - I just cut up the remainder into 2.5in squares and arranged them on the front of the card! The beauty of these papers is that they are double sided so cordinate perfectly! I included a bit of shimmery red paper behind the squares to complement the red in the patterned paper, and added a HOTP artsy additions embossed paper charm to the front, along with the cardmakers word fragments.

So, I hope you love these papers as much as I do - and I promise - no more paper stroking from me!!

Now dont forget - its another DT challenge going live tomorrow at 6pm, any entries emailed in to sales@croptilyoudrop.co.uk are eligible for the monthly DT challenge prize!! Have a look here to see what Rebecca Nash won last month - it's well worth entering!

See you all soon!

Oooh I've just popped back - nearly forgot to say that I used the stencils for the lettering on the file folder on the LO, they can be found here, and are great if you have spidery handwriting like mine, and want to get a neat effect, quickly and with minimum mess!! TTFN

And Im back - again - to say that this is also my go at Looby's sketch challenge - albeit a little different!! Right, Im really going now!

Love having my own *personal* kit!!!

I'm sure it won't take you long to notice that we *the magnigicent 7* all have different kits this month...based on the things we like and enjoy using. How lucky are we?!

My kit has bold colours and geometric designs...as well as some more feminine, slightly distressed elements...but you'll see them soon enough. I've started with the beautiful and bold American Crafts papers. The background of this layout uses the Cervantes paper, which is stunningly stripey as you can see! I gutted the area behind the photo, so that I had matching stripes to punch the flowers from. I'm having a real revival of my old punches that have been unused for a while, if you don't own any there are lots available here. Punches are superb for making instant, matching embellishments out of scraps :)


The title *Father* uses the HOTP transparency which I have coloured from behind using OHP pens to make it stand out. I've layered this over the Hornby paper and stapled the transparency to attach it at either end. The Daughter section of the title, uses more of the Hornby paper and I've done the lettering with the Helix stencils and a journalling pen...then doodled around the text and added a gorgeous charm, tied with ribbon from the beautiful Icy Rainbow collection.

For the journalling, I cut 1cm strips of the Tolstoy paper and used a combination of handwriting and stencilling to form the text. These strips were stapled in the bottom right hand corner.

Finally, I punched the flowers and added brads from the HOTP embellishment kits and added these as accents. The flowers highlighting the photograph were further emphasised by adding the same ribbon as the title, as stems going off to the left.

I am loving these Bookshelf papers by American Crafts...and I'm sure you will too...they may be bold, but they are beautiful too (and the colours are muted so they are easier to use *winks*).

Happy crafting everyone!

Blame the post office!

With the postal strikes I thougth I'd better made a final layout with the October 2006 Personal Shopper Kit, just in case my new kit didn't arrive! The photo is my mother in laws 90th birthday party. On the right hand side of the layout I cut a strip of the green12 x 12 paper that I used across the bottom of the page but turned it so the stripe was vertical instead of horizontal and put a piece of vellum over the top to tone down the pattern a bit. I was surprised at how much difference it made to the look of the paper. I made a flower with a button for the centre. I cut two pieces from the last of the cardmaking paper, added some rubs ons and stapled ribbons to the side edges. I die cut some letters and numbers from the brown 12 x12 paper, added some brads and ribbons. all in all I'm very pleased with this page.

My new kit did arrive but I didn't get to play until very late last night so I've only made a card and a ATC. The American Crafts 12 x 12 papers are double sided and great quality. The colours and patterns are a bit of a challenge for me though as they are not what I would automatically choose but I'm up for a bit of a challenge!! As the cardstock is double sided I though I would make a concertina card. This card is Orwell I had to use a couple of Amuse rubberstamps that I have because I love them and I thought they would go with the funky paper. I matted the stamped images with the cardstock that I'd cut from the main card using the front and back. I used a tiny scrap of pink card that I had lying aroung to match with the pink in the American Crafts ribbon that I tied down the side. Finally I inked the edges and put 3 cute little flower brads at the top. I'm not sure about the card? What do you think?

The ATC is made from another piece of the Orwell card but I only used the plain side. I used a HOTP circle slide mount and covered it with some Vintage Sarapaper. I cut a strip of the same paper and put it along the botom of the ATC and added some American Crafts ribbon down the side. In the middle of the slide mount I put a HOTP Big Brad to which I added a Big Brad rub on, with the word 'love' on it. I stamped the word love onto the paper at the bottom and added a HOTP silk flower attatched with a brad. You may have noticed there is no photo of the ATC, well spotted. There is a problem downloading images at the moment but I'll keep trying and add it sometime this evening.

(Finally uploaded ATC tonight 18th October)

Altered box

I've had this papier mache box knocking around for ages, and haven't got around to altering it, that is until I got my latest DT kit from Beverley and it was sooo yummy I got all inspired!

I painted the box (well the bits you see!) with white Acrylic paint and then covered the top and sides with American Crafts papers (Homer for the top - the green is the reverse, and Thoreau for the sides). I used American Crafts ribbon around the edge of the lid, the blossoms are from the HOTP Citrus embellishabilities and the lettering is from the HOTP Round Alphabet sheet, which I tinted with pink shimmer chalk. The brads in the flowers are a HOTP Great big brad from the Green apple set, a HOTP white button brad, and a pink dotted brad from this set.

Challenge #12

I’m back! It seems soooooo long since I sent my last challenge, but here we are again, and I have another sketch for you.

Remember, this isn’t just about scrapping, we’d love to see all sorts from this sketch; cards, ATCs, altered projects, inchies even (now that really IS a challenge!) So just take the sketch, and run with it.

Here’s a sample LO to get you going. The papers used are from the HOTP Personal Shopper July 2006

Now a little DISCLAIMER! I don’t want anyone to be offended by this LO, it was made for my FIL’s “this is your life album” for his birthday and I knew it would appeal to his sense of humour (we’re all a bit weird in our family!) and in fact it was his favourite page! So I’m not being all un-PC and mocking disabled people – I’m just mocking ONE disabled person! LOL

Don’t forget, email your entry to sales@croptilyoudrop.co.uk so we can put it in our gallery, and you may even win our monthly challenge prize!
Enjoy folks!

One sheet wonder!!

Boy are we spoiling you all today...competitions...winners...special offers...and now.....ME lol!!!

My offering for today is my *one sheet wonder* a maze book, created from one sheet of 12x12 (from the October 2006 PS Kit), and a few random left overs (also from this kit).

The cover of the book was made by literally covering 2 scraps of chipboard (the back of a notepad actually!) with the green patterned paper, adding a photo mounted on a scrap of the blue card, punching 4 flowers from the dark green paper and writing on a title.

I then covered the whole thing in a glue based varnish to make it a bit more durable in Nana's handbag! Ditto the back cover.

The inside pages use lots of photos,

doodling and a few more punched flowers.

I also created a couple of pockets (in the pages which were originally the paper's corners) and used a round punch to cut a notch. This makes it easy to slide the extra photos in and out of the pockets.

I'm sending the book to the *Nana* in question as a thankyou for bringing the little monster to see us.

I bet you can think of someone who would love a little reminder of a weekend they've spent with you...or of thier own *special monster*...

Have a good crafting week and I'll be back on Thursday...but do check out all the other DT members in the meantime...we're not called *The Magnificent Seven* for nothing!! hee hee



PS...if you don't know how to make a maze book...here are some instructions!

Outrageous Octoberfest!!

As we were unable to do the free make n takes, demonstrations and other activities we had hoped to do at Ally Pally last month we decided to hold a special event of our very own at the end of this month instead (I'm an 11th hour kinda gal - could you tell?) And we decided to couple that with some crazy deal - all based on the number 10 (because it's the 10th month - geddit?)

So this is the deal:
Outrageous Octoberfest! Monday October 22nd – Sunday October 28th 2007

Special Offers All Week Long - including:

• Personal Shopper Kits £10 (save £12.50 per kit!)
• Cardmaking Kits 2 for £10 (save £15!)
• 3 for £10 on chalk sets (save £19.97)
• Bead Sets 3 for £10 (save £10 on our SALE price: great gift idea)
• Any 10 Peel Offs for £1 (save at least £5.00)
• Selected 12x12 papers, including American Crafts, 10 for £1 (save £6.50)
• MIC Embellies 10 for £1 (save at least £8.90)
• An extra 10% off everything when you subscribe to any Hot Off The Press monthly kit
  

Sat. 27th October:
*Free Make N Takes: make at least one fabby new card design from the fabulous A Muse Artstamps (age restriction: over 14s only!)
*Free Demonstrations: watch us put a bunch of new HOTP goodies through their paces - including the fabulous new clear stamps
*Free Prize Draws: another chance to pick up free stash, just for paying us a visit - no purchase necessary (age restriction: over 14s only!)
*Free Goody Bags: yet another chance to pick up free stash, just for paying us a visit - no purchase necessary (age restriction: over 14s only!)

Sunday 6th May:
Join me for a free, private Crop n Shop. I’ll be crafting. Do you want to come too? Bring your own stuff & use my space. The shop is officially closed but I’ll be there from 10am – 5pm.
Crop Morning, Afternoon or Come All Day; Limited Spaces – Please Book In Advance!

Every One's A Winner

An exciting time today as we announce the very first Monthly Challenge winner and all the winners from our Ally Pally (29-30 September 07) free Prize Draws.

First, I'd like to thank everybody who has taken part in one of our weekly challenges. I hope that more people will play along each week & have a go at picking up the monthly prize. For details on how to enter go here (scroll to the bottom of the post), or to see this week's challenge, look here.
Without further delay - September's Design Challenge winner is ... Rebecca Nash!
The design team were equally torn between Rebecca's altered cigar box (challenge #7) and her altered tins (Challenge #10) - both of which you will find in our challenge gallery. Rebecca wins a HOTP Personal Shopper Kit - 'Brad Buddies & More' with a retail value of around £30. Rebecca was previously one of the 'honourable mentions' in our last DT call, so I hope she will be ready to take a guest DT place this month too! Well done & we will all look forward to seeing more of your creations soon!

Now on to our prize draw winners. We had two free draws on both the Saturday & Sunday at the Big Stamp & Scrapbooking Show, Alexandra Palace, with an additional draw for everybody who filled in an entry form over the weekend. All our draw prizes were generously donated by A Muse Artstamps and Hot Off The Press.

Our winners are:

Juliet King from Welwyn Garden City, who wins an A Muse prize package valued at over £18.00 (pictured top right)

Becky Napthine from Hockley, Essex, who wins a HOTP Cardmakers Kit valued at £20.00 (pictured second from top)
Sophia O'Reilly from Guildford, who wins an A Muse prize package valued at over £20.00 (pictured third from top)
Melissa Winter from Bexleyheath, Kent, who wins a HOTP scrapbooking kit valued at over £30.00 (pictured bottom far right)
Sharon Collins from Southampton, who wins a current HOTP Personal Shopper Scrapbooking kit valued at over £35.00 (pictured bottom right)

Congratulations to you all. Your prizes are on their way (subject to delay by Royal Mail strikes, of course).

Halloween Happens!

I had a fun day down at the store today, organising our Halloween window
display. So OK, we don't sell a lot of Halloween goodies but that was soooo not the point. In fact this display, which took me several hours to put together (it's arranging the cobwebs that takes the time! LOL) showcases just fourteen stamps from the latest A Muse Halloween & Fall collections. Obviously we do stock the pre-requisite orange, black & purple cardstocks, ink pads, glitters, card blanks etc - but right or wrong, I just wanted a window that would look cool! LOL. See that spider climbing down the wall? He's HUGE! And hairy!

Death is very cool too! He's about 4' tall and his eyes change colour. How funky is that? Hope you like the display - if you are in the area, why not pop

in and see it for real! You can get some extra inspiration from all the card de

signs we have from the A Muse Crew - A Muse Artstamps' very own fabby design team.

Make sure you check back tomorrow - I'll be announcing ALL the winners from our prize draws at Ally Pally & September's Design

Challenge winner - as voted for by the magnificent seven, our fabby Design Team. And there will be piccies of the prizes too!
If that's not enough, details of our Outrageous Octoberfest event will be announced - there's gonna be never-to-be-offered-again special deals plus lots of free gifts and activities. So watch this space!