January/February 2010 issue

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Freebie Friday – Marvelous Markers

March 26, 2010 in Uncategorized

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P. Kelly Smith

Welcome to Freebie Friday! I don’t know about you, but I’ve always loved rainbows. Maybe it’s seeing all those bright colors right next to another, each one beautiful and unique in their own brilliancy. 

Speaking of rainbows, I’m also a fan of the candy, Skittles. No just because they’re delicious to eat, but because they bring back a fun school memory. I’ve already told this story here, but if you’re new to this blog, it’s new to you! 

“…Then came Ms. Dowell in third grade. She used to keep a candy dish on her desk filled to the rim with brightly colored Skittles. Every time we would “do well” in class (get it…her name was Ms. Do-well), we would get to pick out one Skittles candy from her tall dish. (I’m convinced she refilled that thing every day because it never seemed to disappear!) I would always pick red (strawberry) and happily munched on it all the way back to my desk. To this day, whenever I open a bag of Skittles, I always reach for the red ones first and I think to myself, ‘You deserve this. You did something well today…’” 

So it’s no surprise that I love product that comes in a rainbow of colors. Bling, buttons and brads all remind me of shiny Skittles in a glass jar…just waiting to be “munched” on. But nothing excites me more than a set of never-been-opened, never-been-used markers. I love knowing that so much color resides in each small tube. And all you have to do is twist off the cap and play!  

Angie Hagist's Hello Hill Card from Stamp It! Cards.

I love how Angie used markers to color in her stamped image here. What a fun, whimsical tree with brightly colored mushrooms! For more great examples of marker-happy projects, pick up a copy of Stamp It! Cards or turn to the Marker Magic feature in our January/February 2010 issue. 

So you knew it was coming from the title of the blog, right? Right. I’ve got three sets of Bic’s Mark-it Ultra Fine Permanent Markers. Their ultra fine tips are perfect for coloring in those detailed stamped images…or if you’re like me, writing your name in 36 fabulous colors! Leave a comment telling me what you would do with a set like this. All comments must be received by midnight (MDT) on Sunday, March 28. 

Three lucky people will walk away with 36 colors of rainbow fun!

Happy Coloring!
Kelly 

P.S. It’s time to announce the winner of Jennifer’s Sketchy Math post! 

Brenda (March 23, 11:02 a.m.) 

Congrats, Brenda! You’ve won a copy of our new special issue Go-to Sketches! I’ll be contacting you shortly to get your mailing address. Thanks to all who left comments! (If you didn’t win this time around, you can always purchase a copy of Go-to Sketches HERE.)

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Magazine Monday – January Gallery Challenge Winners!

February 8, 2010 in Uncategorized

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P. Kelly Smith

Welcome to Magazine Monday! Thanks again for all the comments from last week’s blogiversary celebration. You sure know how to make this humble editor feel good. It makes all the 2 a.m. “feedings” and lack of sleep well worth it. And now you know why I begin every morning with a tall glass of Coke over ice! Breakfast of champions!

Did everyone have a good weekend? For those of you affected by the snowstorms, I hope you enjoyed the opportunity to stayed indoors and catch up on some paper crafting. Perhaps a few of you even started or finished your Valentine’s Day projects. Remember it’s not too late to shower your sweeties in love! 

But before Feb. 14 arrives, let’s fall in love with our January Gallery Challenge winners. These three ladies not only aced our marker-themed challenge, but they actually made me want to go play with my Copics! 

Winner #1 – Vanessa Menhorn:  

We loved the detailed shading on Vanessa's clean and graphic card. Judging from her watermark and the name of her blog ("Wings of a Butterfly"), she's a fan of these beauties.

 Winner #2 – Nina Brackett: 

Apparently Nina is a fan of butterflies, too! We loved this shabby chic card and how she accented her butterfly with gorgeous pearls.

Winner #3 – Alice Wertz: 

Alice definitely knows her way around a marker! Check out her blog for more examples of this fun and cute card.

Congratulations, ladies! Each of you has won either a one-year subscription or the special issue of your choice. I’ll be contacting you shortly to discuss your prizes. If you’re interested in seeing all the marker projects from the January challenge, please visit our gallery HERE. 

Wanna join the fun and participate in our next challenge? We launched our February Gallery Challenge last Monday and already have 87 entries! Since it’s the season of love, we want to see your very best Valentine’s Day projects. For inspiration, please turn to the Valentines for Everyone on Your List and Vintage Valentines features in our January/February 2010 issue. This three-week challenge will run through midnight (MST) on Monday, Feb. 22. Click HERE for all the details! 

Happy Monday!
Kelly 

P.S. It’s time to announce the winners from Susan ’s One Year with the Paper Crafts Gang post and my That Could Be a Blog Post post!  

Susan’s winners:  

1. Danita C. (Feb. 4, 8:04 a.m.)
2. Sara-Jane (Feb. 4, 8:44 a.m.)
3. Maureen D. (Feb. 4, 5:14 a.m.)
 

My winners: 

1. Jami (Feb. 7, 4:14 p.m.)
2. Anita Young (Feb. 5, 11:13 a.m.)
3. Erika M. (Feb. 5, 6:42 a.m.)

Congrats, winners! I’ll be contacting you shortly to discuss your prizes and get your mailing addresses. Thanks to all who left comments!

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Magazine Monday – Happy Blogiversary!

February 1, 2010 in Uncategorized

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P. Kelly Smith

Welcome to Magazine Monday and day one of Paper Crafts Connection’s Blogiversary Celebration! Tomorrow, February 2, marks our official one-year anniversary, and I don’t about you, but time sure has flown by!

It was just over a year ago that I started building this blog, page by page and link by link. We knew we wanted it to be an extension of the magazine, and because we’re not limited to page count here, we knew we could give you more of everything you love about Paper Crafts. And because of its viral nature, we knew there was potential to reach paper crafters from all over the world on a daily basis. No pressure at all!

So, a year later, I’m sitting here trying to sum up 263 posts, which collectively contain 26,872 comments! And while certain posts are more memorable than others, in a way, all of them are like little babies that I’ve created and sent out into the paper crafting world for love and acceptance. And you’ve all embraced each and every one. Even the ones that were silly and lame and had nothing to do with paper crafting. Does anyone remember our Return of the Jedi Braid post? Like I said, there’s been some random ones!

That said, there’s also been some amazing ones. Too many to individually mention, but I went through our archives and pulled my favorites. In true Letterman style, I bring you PK’s Top Ten Paper Crafts Connection Blog Posts of 2009:

1. Happy World Card Making Day – Oct. 3, 2009 (Of course this would be my #1! So fun to celebrate this holiday with the whole wide world!)

2. Freebie Friday – Giving Back – Sept. 18, 2009 (You may think I picked this as one of my favorites because it features a scrumptious Johnny Depp card, but the real reason is because I so enjoyed giving my time to a wonderful charity. Brandy will talk more about our inspiring Creativity Heals campaign tomorrow!)


3. Magazine Monday – The Paper Crafts Office Tour – August 17, 2009 (As a request from one of our readers, I went around the office and took pictures of our lobby, break room and all of our individual cubes. It was a lot of fun!)


4. Freebie Friday – And the Gallery Idol Winner Is – July 31, 2009 (Oh happy day for Rae Barthel!)


5. Welcome Go-to Gal, Teri Anderson – July 23, 2009/Welcome Go-to Gal, Jessica Witty – July 21, 2009/Welcome Go-to Gal, Betsy Veldman – July 16, 2009/Welcome Go-to Gal, Maren Benedict – July 14, 2009/Welcome Go-to Gal, Kim Hughes – July 9, 2009/Welcome Go-to Gal, Kim Kesti – July 7, 2009 (July, 2009 was a very busy month in Paper Crafts land! In addition to the weekly Gallery Idol challenges and posts, we also welcomed six talented ladies to our family – the Paper Crafts Go-to Gals!)


6. Tickled Pink – June 23, 2009 (National Pink Day just happened to fall during our Card Creations 7 promotional week in June. In true girly fashion, Brandy spotlighted some pretty pink projects, gave away some pink-alicious product and then posted a picture of us in our finest pink garb.)


7. The Lone Design Man – May 7, 2009 (Matt, our lone man on the team, dishes secrets on what it’s like to work with seven hormonal women. He also shows some of his amazing openers that are featured in our magazine!)


8. Freebie Friday – Get Your Blinkies Here – April 3, 2009 (Here we showed readers how to upload their very own Paper Crafts and Moxie Fab World blinkies! If you still don’t have them on your blogs, what are you waiting for?)

9. Freebie Friday – The Big One – March 20, 2009 (This post related to our Stamp It! Cards promotional week generated more comments than any other to date. I wonder if this jackpot of a giveaway had anything to do with it!)


10. Happy Birthday, PK – March 12, 2009 (As a Coca-Cola fanatic, this post literally leaves me feeling effervescent!)

Can I tell you how hard it was to only pick 10 posts?! Luckily, we still have the rest of the week to touch on highlights from the past year. And since no celebration would be complete without presents, today I’m giving away three fun prize packages! Leave a comment telling me one of your favorite Paper Crafts Connection blog posts from 2009. I’ll pick three random winners to each receive one of our new “Betty” t-shirts, a Paper Crafts Connection button and Cosmo Cricket’s Earth Love collection. All comments must be received by midnight (MST) on Tuesday, Feb, 2.

Happy Monday!
Kelly

P.S. We just launched our February Gallery Challenge today! Since it’s the season of love, we want to see your best Valentine’s Day projects. For inspiration, please turn to the Valentines for Everyone on Your List and Vintage Valentines features in our January/February 2010 issue. This three-week challenge will run through midnight (MDT) on Monday, Feb. 22. Click HERE for all the details! (January’s winners will be spotlighted next Monday, Feb. 8.)

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Freebie Friday – January/February I-Spy!

January 29, 2010 in Uncategorized

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107 comments

P. Kelly Smith

Welcome to Freebie Friday and Paper Crafts latest installment of the trivia game I-Spy! If you’re a fan of the vintage look, then you’re going to love today’s giveaway!  

From frilly flowers and papers to bingo cards and pearl stick pins, this prize package will transport you back to Grandma’s cozy parlor. Get ready to play because I’m picking five winners this time! 

You must have a copy of our January/February 2010 issue in front of you. All questions will be directly related to this issue and this issue only. 

  

January/February I-Spy Questions: 

1. I spy designer Rae Barthel in our Paper Crafts Connection column. Name the five rounds of competition that earned her the title of 2009 Gallery Idol. 

2. I spy Cath’s Moxie Fabs column. In Stefanie Hamilton’s Everything I Am Card, what does the woman owe everything to?   

3. I spy our Paper Crafts 101 column. In one of Kim Hughes’ technique squares she braided floss to make sun rays. How many “rays” are there?  

4. I spy our brand new Color Play column. Name the four Bazzill cardstock colors Kim Kesti uses in her Groovy Love Card. 

5. I spy our Valentines for Everyone on Your List feature. What designer tip does Jo Kill suggest for her Love You Card? 

6. I spy our Marker Magic feature. Name the items hanging from the clothesline in Maren Benedict’s Let’s Hang Out Card. 

7. I spy at least three cards in our Vintage Valentines feature that incorporate stick pins. Name two of the cards. Hint: If they’re hard to spot, refer to the supply lists! 

8. I spy our 2010 Reader Survey. What prize will 20 random respondents win? (P.S. If you still haven’t completed the survey, you have until midnight (MST) on Saturday night!) 

9. I spy our Tips, Tools, & Techniques column. What increments do Marvy Uchida’s Mega, Giga and Extra Giga Punches cut? 

10. I spy our Simple Sentiments column and the quote: ”When you are in love you can’t sleep because reality is better than your dreams.” Who said this?

Five random winners (who answer five or more questions correctly) will win a selection of product we feature in this issue’s Product Parade and Sweepstakes columns. (Just turn to pages 75-76 for a closer look!) To play, please enter your answers in the comment field below this entry. All comments must be received by midnight (MST) on Sunday, Jan. 31. 

Five lucky people will win an assortment of this vintage product!

Good luck!
Kelly 

P.S. Did you know this little blog here turns one-year-old next week? Make sure you join us for our Paper Crafts Connection Blogiversary Celebration! We’ll be recapping some of our more memorable moments from the past year, as well as giving away some fabulous product. I did just return from CHA after all. Hope to see you all next week! 

P.P.S. It’s time to announce the winner of Maren’s Groovin With the Go-to Gals…at CHA post!  

Sandy Kay (Jan. 28, 3:58 p.m.) 

Congrats, Sandy! You’ve won some fun CHA goodies! I’ll be contacting you shortly to get your mailing address. Thanks to all who left comments!

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Some Inspiration Stirring

January 26, 2010 in Uncategorized

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Holly Mills

Knock, knock.  
Who’s there?
Abby.
Abby who?
Abby birthday to you, abby birthday to you!

I receive regular text messages about various hijinks my two-year-old niece
has been involved in. She has an impressive vocabulary for her age and even more distinct opinions about what, when, where and how she wants things.  

One of her latest colloquialisms is “My toe wants to go to the mall. Right
now!” When I saw the current Moxie Fabs column about Anne Taintor, I could feel some inspiration stirring. (Click HERE to see Stefanie Hamilton’s sassy Awestruck Card in the January/February issue.) 

So what do birthdays have to do with anything? Later this week is another
sister’s birthday (have I mentioned I have five sisters?), and I decided to
make a birthday card using the Anne Taintor-style and my niece’s sentiment
as inspiration. This is what I came up with. I’ll be including a gift card, too.  

  

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Police.
Police who?
Police stop telling these awful knock, knock jokes!  

Keep smilin’,
Holly 

P.S. Wanna make your own card with some attitude? Cath just happens to be hosting Let’s Get Sassy: The Taintor-tude Challenge on the Moxie Fab World blog. Upload/link your cards by Feb. 15 and you could win a moxie fab prize. Click HERE for all the details!

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