Papercraft Star Challenge 43!

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to our 42nd Challenge with Papercraft Star. We are so happy to have you join us this week !!

Our Sponsor This Month !

Our winner this month will receive a gift voucher to The Scrapbooking Cottage !!!

At The Scrapbooking Cottage we carry a variety of products to meet all your paper crafting needs. Our desire is to carry the newest products for you at great prices. We pride ourselves in outstanding customer service and fast shipping. All orders over $25.00 receive FREE SHIPPING (anywhere in the U.S.)

Challenge 43 - Photo Inspiration

Begins April 27, 2011
Use this photograph as your project inspiration.
Photo Credit: Amy Atlas Events

This photo inspired a fun scrapbooking project of my niece Beth from many years ago. This was a long time ago as she is now a Junior in High School. But isn't she just adorable?

The next picture shows off part of the title. You might notice but I did some masking so that both "i am" and "so happy" are surrounded by flowers but are not covered up.

I just love the combination of the striped background and the round shape of the flowers. I am taking my cues from the inspiration photo with the striped wall paper and candy along with the circular lollipops!

The final photo shows of the fun flowers and the layers I created by popping them up with dimensionals.

I hope my layout has inspired you to join in the challenge. Remember to follow the guidelines above and post your project to the Papercraft Star site beginning today, Wednesday, April 27th, 2011. You have until Sunday at 9pm EST to get your project posted. Voting begins after midnight on Saturday and runs through 6am EST on Tuesday. The winning project is announced on the site on Tuesday afternoon! Good luck to everyone and happy crafting!



Supplies (all supplies CTMH)
Paper: Tickled Pink
Ink: Crystal Blue, Twilight, Sweet Leaf, Hollyhock and Blush
Stamps: I Am

The stamps are coming, the stamps are coming...

Hello Everyone!

Just another announcement email...I have just received my production copies of my new stamps sets that will be released on May 16th. I am so excited to see them and can't wait to start playing with them. I am also placing my first official release order so I will have them on hand next month for those interested in purchasing some (or all) of them. This whole process has been so wonderful and I appreciate all your patience as I have not been as active on the blog due to my starting this new adventure.

I am also going to start working on some videos for you. I just got my Flip Video Camera and need to figure out how to mount it so it can capture me making projects. In the meantime I will start making some projects to show you what I have been up to...

Have a fantastic week everyone!
C

Hello Everyone!

I promised a layout this weekend and I don't want to let you down! Here is a layout I did about a day at Bass Lake in the mountains in Western North Carolina. It was a fun day trip that our family took. The lake was gorgeous and, since it was fall, the leaves were unbelievable.

Here is each page individually...

I just love the wood grain lettering...

Can you say I love October Afternoon? Isn't this paper and the coordinating embellies fantastic?!

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend!


Supplies
Paper: October Afternoon
Embellishments: October Afternoon, "The Boyfriend" Chip Board Letters (Cosmo Cricket)

Update on what's happening...

Hello Everyone!

I have no project to post today. I should have some fun layouts to post this weekend so come on back for that...

No, today's post is about updating everyone on my latest venture...starting my own stamp company. As many of you know I am embarking on a new adventure. I have started a small stamp company called TradeFish Designs. I am doing this because I need a little more variety in my stamps sets...specificially, more sets for and about the men and boys in my life. See, I am married to a wonderful man (Rob) and I have a fantastic step-son (Will). They are the stars of all of my scrapbooks and projects, yet I struggle to find fun stamps consistently for them that go beyond fishing.  Don't get me wrong, my boys actually love to fish ...and I will probably do something with a fishy theme...but I want grills, beer-drinking hats, baseballs, televisions and lawn mowers! That is the life I scrapbook...ok, my husband does not own a beer-drinking hat but we are sports fans and like to tailgate...hint, hint, hint.

I know many of you have felt the same way at one time or another. Don't get me wrong, I love the flowers, butterflies and girly swirls but I just don't personally need them much in my projects. TradeFish Designs will not be the company to go to if you want cutesy, flowery stuff. If you want fun images that will work great for your "masculine projects" this will be the place to be. My first stamps, which are in production now, will focus on Father's Day and my dad's favorite past-time...TV! There will be some sentiments thrown in for you to use on layouts and cards about dad too. And finally, there will be a sentiment set all about missing someone you love. This set is really filling a personal need for me. I am a huge supporter of Operation Write Home and I wanted a stamp set with different sentiments about missing someone. Most sets I find only have the token "Missing You" and "Thinking of You". Well, my new set has 16 different phrases...woohoo!

I am so enthuisiastic about this whole adventure that I am also working with a web designer to bring you a whole new website where you can shop for stamps and still follow me through my blog. I am even in the designs stage for the June stamps release...can you say Baseball? 7th Inning Stretch? Independence Day? These are just some small hints about what is in store for you coming with the June release.  I even purchased a flip video camera so I can start doing fun videos for everyone and give you all a chance to hear my voice and learn a little bit more about me.

Finally, I wanted to reveal my new company logo.

See, I like fish! The name and the logo have personal meaning for me...that and the fact that my boys really do love to fish!

Come back this weekend for some layout fun...maybe a video (if I can get my new video camera to work) and please feel free to share your ideas with me about what stamps sets you would like to see for the boys/men in your life. I would love to help meet your stamping needs too!

Remember, the first stamp sets will be released on Monday, May 16th!

I hope you all have a wonderful Friday!!!

Papercraft Star Challenge 42!

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to Papercraft Star's 42nd Challenge! Our sponsor this month is The Scrapbooking Cottage.

Sponsor of the Month !

 Challenge 42 - Theme: Earth DayHere is the item that is being used as my recycled portion of the project...an empty cardboard box from Amazon.


Begins April 20, 2011

Create a project with Earth Day as your inspiration, include a recycled or re-purposed item in your project to help save the Earth! Don't forget to tell us what it was in your blog post.

And here is my project...a masculine card! The cardboard is used as the mat for both my image and sentiment. Sorry for the dark photo. I am moving things around in my studio and have to work on a new location for photos...

Here is a slightly brighter photo for you that shows off the dimension of this card. Everything is distress, crinkled or otherwise messy to give it a grungy and worn look and feel.

I hope my card has inspired you to join in the challenge. Remember to follow the guidelines above and post your project to the Papercraft Star site beginning today, Wednesday, April 20th, 2011. You have until Sunday at 9pm EST to get your project posted. Voting begins after midnight on Saturday and runs through 6am EST on Tuesday. The winning project is announced on the site on Tuesday afternoon! Good luck to everyone and happy crafting!

Supplies
Paper: Rustic White & Pinefeather (PTI)
Ink: Noir Black (Pallete), Dark Chocolate (PTI), Antique Linen & Frayed Burlap (Ranger Distress), and Ponderosa Pine (CTMH)
Stamps: Fathers Knows Best (PTI)
Embellishments: Dark Chocolate buttons (PTI), Rustic Twine (SU)

News about TradeFish Designs

Hello Everyone!

There is nothing crafty going on in today's email. It is really just an announcement that TradeFish Designs is now on Facebook. Head on over to Facebook and check it out. Come "like" TradeFish and hear about some exciting news I have to share with all of you...

Here is a hint...

Still curious, head over to Facebook...

Papercraft Star Challenge 41!

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to Papercraft Star's 41st Challenge!  Our sponsor this month is The Scrapbooking Cottage.

Sponsor of the Month !

This month's winner  will receive a gift voucher to The Scrapbooking Cottage !!!

The Scrapbooking Cottage carries a variety of products to meet all your paper crafting needs. The Scrapbooking Cottage carries the newest products for you at great prices. They pride themselves on outstanding customer service and fast shipping. All orders over $25.00 receive FREE SHIPPING (anywhere in the U.S.)

The Weekly Challenge!

Create an Easter inspired project using one or more of these colors.

Here is what I created for the weekly challenge...a very simple scrapbook page celebrating my two favorite fellas visiting with the Easter Bunny!

The photo is a bit dark (sorry) but I was having technical difficulties. The layout is off-center (on purpose) so it would sit perfectly in my scrapbook. The title is from a .cut file for my Design Studio and used my George and Alphalicious cartridges.

I layered the title and added glossy accents to make it nice and shiney. I love the pinks and soft orange and green. The pink is from our weekly challenge - I kinda free-lanced the other colors to go with my photograph.

The final photo (above) shows you the simple border edge I made for the photo with easter eggs. I layerd them to provide a bit of interest. All in all this layout was very simple as I really wanted to photo of the boys to take center stage. I hope you enjoyed my layout and feel inspired to join this week's challenge. Link up your submission between now and Sunday 9pm (Eastern US) to be eligible for prizes !


Supplies
Paper: Misc (Wild Asparagas)
Tools: George and Basic Shapes & Alphalicious Cartridges (Cricut - ProvoCraft), Glossy Accents

Papercraft Star Challenge #40

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to Papercraft Star's 40th Challenge! This month's sponsor is The Scrapbooking Cottage and the winner this month will receive a gift voucher to The Scrapbooking Cottage!

At The Scrapbooking Cottage we carry a variety of products to meet all your paper crafting needs. Our desire is to carry the newest products for you at great prices. We pride ourselves in outstanding customer service and fast shipping. All orders over $25.00 receive FREE SHIPPING (anywhere in the U.S.)

THIS WEEK'S SPONSOR

For the prize this week, Catherine Pooler is giving a free 2 week membership to StampNation. What is StampNation?



It is the premier community for you to share your love of paper crafting in a positive upbeat, intimate environment. StampNation is the place for you to gain knowledge and inspiration!


Membership benefits include:
-exclusive video tutorials every month
-challenges to inspire your creativity
-an extensive card and project gallery featuring over 3000 samples sorted by stamp set and category!
-And more!


For more information about StampNation, click here. To visit Catherine’s Blog for daily inspiration, Click Here.

OUR CHALLENGE THIS WEEK

Create any project you wish using the sketch below for inspiration.

My take on the sketch this week is a card instead of a scrapbook page.

I decided to use my large circle spellbinder die to create the base of the card. Then I grabbed some adorable little flowers from my stash and found some lovely scraps that coordinated and I went to town. I used an old texturz embossing plate from Sizzix to create the embossed green background strip. The orange paper is some textured paper from Die Cuts with a View. The banner was created using my 2-way banner die from Papertrey Ink as well as one of the sentiments from their Blooming Buttons Bits stamp set. I layered them all together using the sketch above as a guide and came up with a lovely mother's day card for my MIL. I just love the cascading roses combined with the vines in the embossed paper. I think my MIL will love this card.

Link up your submission between now and Sunday 9pm (Eastern US) HERE to be eligible for Papercraft Star prizes !