new DT members...new challenges...are you keeping up?

Hi everyone!

Alix here, and wow its busy around here lately! Have you checked out our new DT members? Welcome to both of you :) and have you entered our monthly challenge yet? *if not...what are you waiting for...their is stash at stake here!!! lol*

Here is my latest project...altered mini-cubes. These wooden cubes are only 99p for three, which I think is a bargain...and they are little so they sit perfectly on your desk, or window sill, even on the mantel piece without taking up too much space.

I've decorated mine with pp from the HOTP PS Kits, using a glue stick. Easy. I've stamped some sides with our initials using a selection of alphabet stamps {but you could use letter stickers or a die-cutter}, and added photos of us both {me on the A cube and him on the D cube}. The other cube is stamped on each side with an ampersand or a star from the HOTP Thingamajigs stamp set. Even the other half likes these, so they must be quite cute!! lol

Project #2 today is the evening LO from my friend's recent birthday. Its called *Lets drink...PINK* and I've made it using the gorgeous Mira collection papers. Do check these papers out, they are such a fun, artistic, colourful and happy collection...perfect for all sorts of occassions.

I've also used American Crafts ribbons, red blooms, pink flower gems and some felt accents. The circle is from the die-cut felt sheets and the pink butterfly is punched from Friendly Felt...you remember how much I love this stuff, right? ;)

So there it is...my contribution for today. I hope it inspires you in some little way to get on and make a little something *NOW*

Enjoy.

:)

New DT Debut!

I promised earlier to show some of the yummy creations that our new DT girls submitted as part of their entries - a bit late as it is technically tomorrow! LOL.
First Jayne: The first layout is a Cogsmo number - & anyone who uses this very 'boy' range on a girly pic & can make it work has to be worth taking a look at! LOL
Jayne's mini album in a baby shoe is simple but very effective - what a lovely keepsake either of your owns kiddie (as Jayne's is) or as a gift for a new parent - great idea ... & that's what we like!
I have included a third piece from Jayne, solely as it was DS1's choice. Those of you who know him will already be aware that he's not easy to impress but he really liked this one & thought I should pick Jayne on the strength of that alone. Obviously there was a bit more than that to it! LOL. It was the busy black & white with just a little colour that drew his eye (even if it is pink!!!) & I have to agree that it's very effective - and very different to Jayne's other entries.


I loved Laura's Bo Bunny Album - & it was also nice with both these submissions to see a product or two there that we stock/have stocked in the past - Makes it soooo much easier to see what they might do with our DT kit! With Laura's entry, I was really drawn to her mini books - luuuurve mini books! The 'Believe' one is just plain pretty! With the Bind It All book, it's the clever use of tags & pockets that I liked. I love to cram li'l hidden bits in my albums, so seeing something with all those hidden spaces was a big bonus.



So that's what I thought - but I'm sure you'll all have your own opinions & please do feel free to post your comments. Which is your fave???

All that's left is to say a huge thank you to everybody who sent in submissions - it was a tough decision to make and did give me a sleepless night or two along the way! LOL.

Don't forget the GDT Challenge - the deets are here!

Welcome Our New DT Girls

At last we get to announce our new arrivals! After much deliberation, soul searching & chocolate, we (that's me, Phoenix & Alix) are pleased to announce that Jayne (jay670120) & Laura (Elliemook) have joined our DT. This evening I shall be sharing a couple of the wonderful creations that they submitted as part of their applications, so be sure to pop back later.
Congratulations girls - we are very excited to have you on board & look forward to seeing more of your work very soon
Guv x

In the meantime ... pop on over to their blogs to see what they have been doing.
Jayne's Blog
Laura's Blog

And if you didn't make it on to the DT this time, why not have a go at our guest DT challenge? See all the deets here

Last member of the design team!

Hello everyone!

I am the last member of the Design Team (DT). My name is Katie Perry. I live in Torfaen ( pronounced Torvine),which is in South East Wales. I applied for the DT before I went on holiday a few weeks ago and I didn't find out I was successful until I returned this week.

To say you could have knocked me down with a feather is an understatement!! I was hopping about like a fool when I read the email from Beverley. I am so pleased I got a place!

I have been crafting for ever but got into card making about 3 years ago. I have recently started to try scrapbooking so I hope to be able to produce some layouts and of course some cards!

One of the massive benefits about being on the DT is being able to showcase some of the fabulous products from Crop 'Til You Drop, especially the Hot Off the Press stash, which I love and use all the time already.

The other members of the DT are a really talented bunch I hope I can produce work as good as theirs!

Well that's about it for now. The photo I've included is where I craft. It's a shed in my garden! My own little piece of heaven!

Well i guess its mine turn!!!

Well i guess its my turn to chat!

My name is Wendy and i live in Suffolk with my husband Russell and my gorgeous son Harry.
I have been scrapbooking for nearly 3 and a half years since Harry was born and my first album was his first year. Since then scrapbooking has become my biggest passion.
Most of the time i can be found sitting at my scrapbooking table in the conservatory with Harry playing in the garden.

I do dabble in cardmaking and altered art but one of my other passions is making mini albums!

Do you want to see one of the pages that i sent in for the DT call??? Well im going to show you anyway hee hee!!!

I think this is one of my all time favorite pages and i love sharing it with people.

I am really looking forward to working with all the other girls on this design team and chatting with you all.

Wendy
xxx

Alix is entering the building (blog)!!!

Hi everyone....here i am!!! and i am super excited to be with you all :)

ok so down to basics:

my name is Alix (doh) and i am 34; funny how in the crafting world everyone wants to know how old you are, but there you go...

i live in a beautiful little cottage with the loveliest man in the world, to whom i'm betrothed. we are at the beginning stages of planning a wedding for next summer...so its all very exciting at the moment here *smiles very large smile*

what else might you like to know?

i'm deeply engrossed in paper crafting; loving scrapping, card making and altering anything that looks a little *ordinary* i especially love to use my handwriting and doodle here and there...i like to include myself in my work, and i never strive to complete a perfect page/project...if i wanted it to look like a machine made it...i wouldn't have wasted all day doodling, right!!

i also love to garden...although i only have a tiny courtyard and no soil, so its all pots...but i'm sure you'd like to see it...so here goes...

wow, i can't believe that happened first time!! lol

so thanks to beverley for including me in the DT, i hope i live up to expectations, and i hope we all have a lot of fun and fair bit of inspiration along the way...

welcome to all the other new team members too...i look forward to getting to know you asap!

*if you're happy and you know it stamp alot...*

alix

Hellllooo

Hiya my name is Sharon , but I'm usually Shary on forums and blogs. I'm 43 (!) ahh the eldest so far! I currently live in Germany along with my hubby, 4 kids, 1 cat and a bearded dragon. We've been in Germany now for 6 years due to my hubby being in the British Army.
I started off cardmaking about 5 years ago now, dabbled in scrapbooking and then about a year ago, ATCs and Altered art. Love to try out new techniques and I'm forever trawling the net looking at blogs for inspiration. I'm looking forward to being able to craft a lot more because I'll have more time to myself as my youngest starts full time school in a few weeks.
I was chuffed to bits to be picked for the design team, looks like I've a lot to live up to judging by all the work I've seen so far.
Hope to get to know you all soon and congratulations to all the other new design team members.

Hiya - Im Charli!!

OO eck - I just pressed the wrong button and it just posted hiya! Anyhoo....

Im Charli, Im 27 and I live in a small village near to Lancaster with my partner of 5 years, Shaun, and our gorgeous and very mischeivous little boy, also called Shaun - he's 20 months old, and features in the majority of my LO's. I love scrapping - Ive tried loads of hobbies and this is definitely 'the one' for me!! I like card making and have just gotten into making ATC's too. Minibooks have to be my favourite thing to make - I love giving them away but every so often I turn into 'Charl - the selfish crafter' and keep one for myself!!

After finishing a short course in photography, I am starting to think outside the box and photograph subjects other than people, and love manipulating my photos (especially when it involves removing a spot or three lol).

Im so looking forward to creating some cool stuff for you all to have a peep at, and hope you enjoy it as much as Im going to love making it!! My 'home is...' LO will hopefully be attached - this was the one that I won the July house challenge for on UKS - hope you like it!

The Magnificent Seven!!

Nope! I've not lost count LOL - Five new DT members already announced + Looby = 6. And then there is the absolutely final member of our DT ... Alix Cox!!

As well as submitting some first class designs to us (I hope she will share 'The Secret Garden' with us) she also indicated her understanding both of the level of commitment and the need to be 'visible' within our community.

I particularly love how Alix likes to doodle and use handwriting on her layouts. This is such an important part of laying down that record for the future & giving a sense of ourselves that I hope Alix will be able to inspire many more of us to do the same. Congratulations Alix, I shall be e-mailing you soon!!

There's just one more surprise to come ... At 11.30pm a new post will announce four others to whom we would like to offer a one month guest designer position. These will run, 1 each month from September to December. Sadly, we couldn't take on everybody and these four were sooo close that we wanted to showcase their work anyway, if only for a little while.

So check back in at 11.30pm - it could be you! And do ignore the time on these posts - we haven't hit an 'Alice In Wonderland' moment I'm writing the posts in advance as I'm famous for being late & I guess there's a few people who will be waiting with baited breath. So I'm posting at the right time - but the times shown are when they were saved as drafts LOL.

Gimme Five!

This would have been the fifth & final - except there's just one more member that I have to have - look out for the absolute final DT member in the next post at 11pm!!

Anyway, my number five is ...

Katie Perry (KTP).

Those of you that hang out over on our forum will already know KTP & maybe will even have some of her pieces through the various swaps that we run there. That did make our decision much easier as both Looby and I love her stuff but she did submit a formal application along with everybody else.

KTP will, I hope, provide us with lots of her wonderful cards. She is very new to scrapbooking, so might provide a few LOs but I really see her the resident card maker on our team (and card makers have been seriously under-represented thus far!) KTP has quite eclectic tastes in her projects and as part of her entry submitted the most beautiful slide mailer - simply gorgeous!

Obviously, we've got to know KTP through the forum & she is one of the funniest (in a good way!) people we know. Can't wait to work more closely with her!

Both KTP and Sharon are currently on holiday - so I don't expect to hear from them until the end of the month. Perhaps this will be a nice little surprise waiting for them when they return.

And Now For Number Four!

Our fourth new DT member is ... Wendy Mckee!

Wendy is a bit of a veteran really, being quite extensively published both online & on paper. She has some DT experience and I hope that she will help Looby & me to guide the newbies LOL. I spent far too much time browsing Wendy's annual albums of the adorable Harry (a little bit older than my very own Fish) over on her Two Peas gallery (where she is known as Harrysmum!)

Wendy has a beautiful layered style that appears effortless and simple. She is able to put an awful lot on a page without it looking cluttered. It's a style that I personally love and that emulates the US style of scrapbooking (with the lots of layers).

I can't wait to see what Wendy will produce from her DT packs. Well done Wendy!!

Who Will Be Number Three?

The third new member of the DT is ...

Ruth Ring (AKA Roo/Phoenix Tears). We first saw Roo's work when she entered our very first Design Challenge last month & has taken part in all four to date - who'd have known that within a month or two she would be setting the challenges instead LOL. As well as submitting some first class LOs, we also got a good sense of 'who is Roo' from her blog & e-mail. So we know all about her obsession with her NEW sewing machine & look forward to seeing how it works with her DT packs LOL.

The fact that she has also taken part in the challenges and has us blogrolled also showed that she already has an interest in us and what we do - that certainly didn't hurt her application. Roo is a keen photographer and her stunning nature shots (and a fair few self portrait LOs) will help to balance the baby shots that we'll be expecting from Charlene (and me, of course!). If you'd like to see what she's done for us so far, check out the Design Challenge Gallery!



Glad to have you with us Roo!

Our Second New DT Member is ...

Sharon Nettleship!!

Sharon's work is really quite different to most of the entries we received. As a sponsor on UKS, we did have alot of entries from the scrapbooking community. Sharon is more of an altered artist and has a wonderful array of ATCs. We thought she would provide something extra & we hope that she will be able to use the products in her DT pack to produce stunning ATCs and altered art. Sharon is also involved in many European swaps. As she lives in Europe we are also hoping to get an insight into her crafting & lifestyle outside of the UK.

Sharon previously had some of her ATCs published in an issue of Simply Stamping. Welcome aboard Sharon!

Our First New DT Member is ...

Charlene Lee!!!

I should point out that these announcements are in no particular order (other than which happens to be top of the pile on my desk LOL).

Charlene's enthusiasm for scrapbooking and her love for her family was clear from her e-mail. We were blown away by her layout 'Home Is...' and the journaling that accompanies it truly moved us (I'm seriously hormonal so I was practically in tears LOL). This layout has already won a challenge & I'm in no doubt that it was a well deserved win. Perhaps, when she has received her invitation to contribute to this blog, she will post it for you all to see.

There's an honesty to Charlene's work that I don't think I'd be brave enough to share with the world. I really look forward to seeing what she will do with her DT Packs each month.

Congratulations Charlene & welcome to our team.

Did You Make It?

The new DT will be announced today & we are gonna break all the rules!! So we are going to tell the world what it was about each submission that helped us make up our minds. At first glance, it seems like all we had to do was pick the projects we liked - but not so, that would give us a DT of over 20 people LOL. The fact is that for this call (and all others I suspect) the standard was so high that we had to use lots of other criteria to make a choice.
Sadly, a few entrants didn't follow the rules. So unless the work was soooo outstanding we couldn't ignore it, those entries didn't get any further. For future reference folks, follow the rules LOL.
So, having established the entries we liked, we followed up links to galleries, blogs etc & looked at intro letters & the craft bios supplied. Some gave us a real 'feel' for the person behind the e-mail - others didn't. Then the whole lot was printed off, notes added & carted into the store.

Looby had the dubious pleasure of helping me decide (so if it all goes horribly wrong - I have someone to blame LOL). This involved copious amounts of tea (for me - Looby doesn't really drink tea) & several petits pain au chocolat with a few croissants thrown in for good measure!

I'm happy to say, Looby is gonna stay on the DT for a while longer (don't think she'd let me get rid of her even if I wanted LOL) and, quite frankly, I couldn't manage without her! We are gonna announce our five new DT members, one at a time every hour from 6pm. See you then!