Are You Up For It?

As promised, here is all the information you need to apply for a place on the Crop ‘Til You Drop design team. Age & experience are less important than your passion for craft. I'd need a commitment for 3 months, although you could be invited to stay for longer. There is no pay as such but you would receive a kit of goodies each month & the chance to showcase your work.
Each DT member will be required to produce a minimum of:
1 layout, 2 cards, something else (binder, mini book, altered project, ATCs etc) & another project of your choice (can be another card, LO etc). These will need to be posted to this blog regularly throughout the month. I could be flexible about this, so if you don’t scrapbook or only make mini books you could still fill a place if it would make for a balanced and interesting team.
You will also be expected to take part in setting challenges for visitors to the blog & to post on this forum every couple of days.
This is quite a commitment, so please do think carefully about whether you have the time to take part before you apply. So, are you up for it?

If you'd like to be considered, please send:

• 3 photos of your work - this can be cards, layouts or whatever but do send the pieces you consider to best represent what you do.
• A set of simple instructions for one of the above
• Full name, address, e-mail address, craft bio (fave techniques, craft info etc).
• Please also include details of any previously published work, current DT commitments, links to your own public gallery or website if you have one & details of anything else you consider relevant e.g. if you don't scrapbook or only make mini books. Decisions are not made based on this info, it will just help me to pick a balanced team.
• Please also give me a brief line or two about why you’d like a place on this Design Team (& do be honest – if you’re in it for the freebies (& who wouldn’t be), just say so LOL)
• This must be sent by e-mail with DT Entry in the subject line as soon as possible and certainly no later than August 20th.

Our New Addition!

Sadly Louise Stevenson had to resign from the design team back in June. The new DT packs will be ready tomorrow & we have a guest designer joining us for the next month. A big welcome to ... Nina Brown!

And the really exciting news is: our next Design team competition starts very soon (like tomorrow) so watch this space for details!

Scrap Happens!

Here are a couple of the recent layouts I've been working on, both of which have been taught in classes. The first uses just one colour of cardstock (double sided, 2 sheets required) & A Muse stamps. The second, Papers by the English Paper Company & the new HOTP Thinga-Ma-Jigs template (which is included in the July HOTP personal shopper kit). I've included a list of materials to each if you'd like to create something similar.

1) Happy Summer 2006. I never get bored with scrapping photos of Fish (particularly before he had his gorgeous curls lopped off). For this layout, I masked off 3 standard size photo blocks & then stamped the background to provide a faux mat effect. The photos were added to the faux mats, corners, titles stems stamped next. For the date block, The background was stamped onto cardstock, numbers added & then the 'seaweed' border. Once the block was stuck in position, the grassy stems were stamped,overlapping the background & the edge of the date block. The seaweed is actually one of the stitch borders supplied in with the number set! The stamped corners were deliberately stamped a bit squiffy to add a less formal, childlike element to the layout. Materials: Stamps - lots of dots & lots of circles blocks, Happy Summer, photo corner, grassy stems, stems, stitched numbers clear stamp set (all by A Muse Artstamps); Inks - Olive Pastel, Lime Pastel, Dark Brown, Prussian Blue (All colorbox fluid chalk by Clearsnap); Cardstock - Double Dipped Ocean by Making Memories.

2) Make & Take: This layout uses lots of colour blocking layers of patterned paper, die cut title, Punctuation both cut from paper and drawn directly on to the layout from a template. The drawn elements are coloured in with Tombow brush pens, which allows the pattern to show through. Materials: Papers from the English Paper Company, Siesta Collection; Lilac textured cardstock (for base); Thinga-Ma-Jigs template (HOTP); Brush pens in black, light green & purple (Tombow); Black Fineliner (Pigma Micron, 0.5 mm); Sizzix Alpha & Green eyelets

Backlogged Blog Candy

I have been sooo tardy at dishing out the blog candy - but it wasn't all a big con, I really am going to send it!

Here's the winners from all the free stuff posts (both from this blog & also from 'Crafty Moments'):

Guess how many A Muse stamps I own (posted Tuesday June 5th; Crafty Moments): ANSO picked at random using this random number generator. (I actually had 70 but it's a few more now LOL).

What's your favourite Strano ribbon? (posted Thursday June 21st; Crafty Moments): LOOBY & SJC. Both of you picked a favourite so I thought I'd send you both a little blog candy!! SJC, please e-mail me with your postal address! (Use the e-mail link in my profile on this site, Thanx)

Spot the Guv'nor (posted Tuesday June 19th; Blog 'Til You Drop): NINA goodies are waiting for you too!

Thanx everyone for your patience, new blog candy coming soon - so watch this space!!

A Whole Bunch Of A Mused Winners

Today's the day that we announced all the winners from the draws and competitions that have taken place over the A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA week. On the one hand I am soooo glad that it's all over (I could do with a little rest LOL) but on the other it's sad that the excitement is all over - well, until next time, anyway! There have been spot prizes throughout the week as well as all the lucky ladies below - so... a big congratulations to

• Donna Civelek from Crayford (Tuesday Draw Winner)
• Jane Watson from Plumstead (Wednesday Draw Winner)
• Mrs North from Darenth (Thursday Draw Winner)
• Lydia Pantelli from Bexley (Friday Draw Winner)
• Kalina Phillips from Dartford (Saturday Draw Winner)

You all win an A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA goody bag worth around £18.

More prizes too for ...

• Sarah Taylor from Sutton At Hone who's number was picked by this random number generator as the winner of the A Muse card making competition. You win a bag full of Yummy Ribbons, kindly donated by Strano Designs.

We also put together all the free draw entries from the week and picked one last winner. Congratulations to...

• Barbara Gorrod from Swanley. You win a set of 3 Marvy Matchables ink pads, kindly donated by Marvy Uchida.

I'd like to thank all the sponsors of A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA for providing so many excellent products & prizes to make our events a success. We all had soooo much fun that we can't wait to do it again next year!

And if you missed out, we still have some of the new A*Muse stamps & notecards in store. We also offer a telephone mail order service and if we don't have what you are looking for in stock, we will happily order in any of their designs for you. Why not check out the A*Muse website for images of all the current ranges (but you'll have to wait until the end of July for the newly launched products!!)

Look Who's A Mused Now!

It is ... Sharon Collins, who travelled all the way from Southampton to join in the A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA festivities (and stock up on A Muse goodies, of course!). How cool is that?? We were soooo impressed that it had to be worth an A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA goody bag, so it's just as well we kept a couple reserved for just such an occurrence! These goody bags are worth around £18 and packed full of A Muse & Clearsnap goodies - so you're really gonna kick yourself if you didn't visit & have a go at winning one!

Thanks for coming Sharon (and devoted husband, who's name we didn't ask - how rude of us LOL) it was lovely to meet you and hopefully you'll come to see us again one day.

Saturday's A Musement

It's been another long day at Crop 'Til You Drop. Today's festivities included another bunch of free make n takes and our 'ten tags' mini workshops. Check out what we made! And here's a piccie of Kirsty & Jackie as Nina helps them out with the 'Ten Tags' - they just can't get enough of A Muse!!
Watch this space for more

pics coming very soon!