And the winners are....

I have entered the numbers into the Random Number Generator with the adjudicator Mr Paper present :) and the winners are...

Suzie! You have won the main prize giveaway, congratulations!

Brenda! You have won the Martha Stewart punch, congratulations!

Nora! You have won the clear stamps, congratulations!

Winners, please email me cards @ paperandribbons . co . uk (remove the spaces) with your address. Thank you to all those that took part :)

52 Cards Challenge Week 17

Apologies for the delay, birthday shenanigans took over! Here are the prompts for this week:

Red, Kraft and Tools.

I went with the tools prompt for my theme and used a miniature gardening trowel on a Father's Day card ready for my father-in-law.

I used the cute Cosmo Cricket Garden Variety paper and Papertrey Ink die and sentiment.

Have a great week!

52 Cards Challenge Week 16

Good morning friends :) I am so excited as I type this, I am looking forward to a week and a half off starting from Thursday and I hope to get some quality crafting in during that time!

Onto the prompts for this week:

Tangerine, Yellow and Garden.

I decided to use some of my lovely new Hero Arts stamps and Gelatos for this week, here's mine;

I misted the stamp with water and rubbed over different colours of Gelatos and stamped on a textured card base, added some white twill and the sentiment.

Supplies used: Hero Arts CL431 Watercolour Petals stamp , Faber-Castell Gelatos, white twill, Papertrey Ink sentiment, Martha Stewart Classic butterfly punch.

Have a great week and remember there is still time to enter my prize draw which is open until 23:59 Monday 25th April and I will be drawing the winners on Tuesday April 26th! (my birthday - yay)

52 Cards Challenge Week 15

Hello! I hope you are all continuing to enjoy the challenges. Remember, this is to help you create more, don't worry if you 'fall behind' you don't need to catch up, pick and choose the challenges as they suit you and your busy schedule. I must admit I have so many projects on at the moment, I have missed a couple of birthday's/anniversaries and I need to make some belated cards to apologise, I have my DT cards to finish and I have a few other projects on the go so I really had to use the prompts for this week to get it done!

The prompts this week are

Brights/Bling/Ribbon

Here is mine

I added some gems and sequins to the paper and a little bit of ribbon and it was finished, a nice quick easy card that looks nice qand sparkly in real life :)

Have a great week!

Supplies used: Cosmo Cricket Delovely Paper and Sentiment and Doodlebug Ribbon

Craft Stash Shopping in New York

I have been lucky enough to visit New York on a number of occasions and always find myself looking for good crafty places to visit before I go and I thought I would share some tips here.

Michaels
The good news is that you no longer have to travel to Staten Island to visit Michaels as there is now a location in the city which opened in 2009. Located at 808 Columbus Avenue, take the 1 subway to 103rd street, walk 2 blocks towards downtown and 2 blocks left and you will find yourself on Columbus. Alternatively you can take the 11 or 7 uptown bus. It looks small from the outside but the actual store is located in the basement and carries a good range of crafting materials. Don't forget to sign up and print the discount coupons before you go!

The Ink Pad
37 Seventh Avenue on the corner of 13th street. Take the 1, 2 or 3 Subway exiting at 14th street. The Ink Pad is one block south. What the store lacks in size more than makes up for in the number of stamps that they carry. Lots of wood mounted and acrylic stamps from over 100 different companies including Hero Arts, Unity and Ranger Industries. They also have a great range of ink pads (obviously!) crafting tools and magazines. The staff are very friendly and helpful and I would definitely recommend a visit.

Kate's Paperie
The website has excellent instructions on how to get to their 2 locations. It has the feel of an upmarket stationers but it does carry some cratfing materials such as stamps, embossing powders and ink pads.

The Garment District
You can take up many hours wandering around the garment district located roughly (to me) around 36th and 40th streets between 5th and 7th Avenue. There are so many bargains to be had but be careful to shop around, there are some stores that are priced much higher than others and the difference in price between 2 stores that are ocated next to each other can be surprising. Here are some of the places that I have been to:

M&J Trimmings
1008 6th Avenue West 38th Street. The store has a stunning array of ribbons and findings, however this was the priciest store I visited, I really wanted seam binding ribbon but decided to leave it at $1.98 a yard (I found it at $0.50 a yard a couple of streets over) Also be wary when buying white or cream ribbons as all of the ribbons I purchased had dirty marks and smudges on the outside, however I did pick up some beautiful teal velvet ribbon.

Joyce Trimmings
109 West 38th Street. Located just across the road from M&J Trimmings this happened to be my favourite trimmings store in the area. Beautiful ribbons, trims, cameos, flowers and cabochons all at great pocket friendly prices. I also loved the $3.95 mixed button bags containing approximately 300 buttons, whilst not all are suitable for crafting the ones that are were well worth the cost of the entire bag. They also have mixed packs with various off-cuts for bargain prices. I strongly recommend a visit.

Tinsel Trading
1 West 37th Street. A gorgeous looking store inside with a vast array of vintage ribbons, trims, flowers and home decor items. Expect to pay higher prices in here as a lot of items are stated as being vintage, an inspiring shop to visit, however I saved my pennies and looked at other stores for cheaper alternatives.

There are also lots and lots of bead shops in Garment District and it is hard to choose one specific store. They all seem to carry pretty much the same base selection of stock and as before the prices of particular items can vary from store to store. I went specifically looking for flower cabochons, and most of the bead stores sold them but they were $1.00 a piece, whereas you can buy a whole pack of prima brand ones for £2.99. I like to buy mine from eBay where there is a great selection for really good prices.

If you have any questions or any shops to add please do let me know! Happy shopping :)

100th Post Prize Giveaway and 52 Cards Challenge Week 14

Hello! When I started this blog I did wonder if it would be a passing fad and I would lose interest but I love sharing what I make with family, friends and visitors and it has really helped me boost my creativity!

I am happy to celebrate my 100th post! and to celebrate I am pleased to have a blog candy giveaway filled with some of my favourite things and there are 3 prizes :)

Prize number one

Fiskars Threading Water Punch
Hero Arts Clear Design Everyday Sayings CL342
Hero Arts Clings Hearts Trio CG160
5 packs of Studio G clear stamps and stamping block
1 Studio G wooden stamp
6 bottles of Tim Holtz Distress Stickles
2 packs of American Crafts Gem set brads
4 Promarkers
1 Sizzix Sizzlet Flourish Die
1 pack of flat back multicoloured pearls
1 bottle of turquoise glitter glue
1 set of flower earrings (just remove the backs!)
1 peach cabochon bracelet (easily separated)

Prize number two

Martha Stewart Classic Butterfly trio punch

Prize number three

Inkadinkado Paperwork Greetings Clear Stamps 97614

All you need to do to enter is:

1 - Be signed up to follow my blog if you aren't already;
2 - Leave a comment on this post :)

Entries are open until 23:59pm GMT on Monday 25th April and I will draw the winner using a random number generator on my birthday Tuesday 26th of April.
Now, on to this week's card challenge. This week's prompts are:

Blue, Stamping, Circles

I needed to make my Mother's Day card and decided to use the prompts for this week. I wouldn't normally have gone with a blue colourway but I was really happy with how it turned out. I decided to use 2 out of the 3 prompts.

On a recent trip to the US I bought some Faber Castell Gelatos and they are just fab to work with. Solid sticks of colour in a lipstick style tube, you just lightly mist your stamp with water and run the gelatos over the stamp and stamp. They give a lovely watercolour look and you can stretch the colour out further using a water pen brush or add more colour by taking a damp brush directly to the gelato and painting on the stamp. I just love them!

I had bought my mum a necklace for Mother's Day but wasn't keen on the box so I made a matching gift box and tag to put it all in and finished off with stamping on the envelope. If you would like to make a gift box take a look at my easy tutorial here.

Supplies used: Hero Arts Botanical Etchings Hydrangea stamp, Papertrey Ink Sentiment, Faber-Castell Gelatos, Bo Bunny Double Dot cardstock, American Crafts Cardstock

Have a happy week and thank you so much for reading :)

PS - All of the challenges so far can now be found under the 52 Cards Challenge page under the header.