Going Postal 2012: Unmissable Docrafts giveaway!

Hi, hi, hi.

[NOTE: This competition is now closed - thank you to all 48 who entered].
I think you're going to like what I've got for you today!

To celebrate the return of Going Postal my friends at docrafts are offering one of you the chance to win a bumper selection of supplies from the Papermania 'Portobello Road' range [which contains ots of postal themed imagery].

 In fact, they're offering one of you the chance to win everything you can see here:

 This includes:

• rubber stamps;
• 12x12 patterned papers;
• die-cuts;
• cardstock stickers;
• embossing folders;
• bows, buttons ... and a co-ordinating bag to carry it all in!

If you'd like to see any of the products in closer detail you can visit the 'Portobello Road' range on the docrafts site here.

I've used the Portobello Road range quite often in recent months on projects for docrafts' Creativity Magazine so I thought I'd share this card to show you a snippet of one of the paper designs and how nicely the stamps stamp:

So, what do you think? Fancy having a pile of Portobello Road arriving on your doorstep next week? OK then ...

Here's HOW TO ENTER: 

• Leave me a comment below this post finishing-off this sentence:
• "One of the most memorable things I received in the post was ... "

It could be anything - maybe a letter bearing good news; an exciting invitation; a declaration of love or a random gift ... I'd love to hear about it.

Last time round I asked about those people you'd like to send letters to ... and between you you had me laughing and crying, so I can't wait to see what you've got for me this time!

If you enter:

• Make sure that when you leave your comment you are either logged into an account I can click through to - to get in touch with you if you win - OR leave your email address / Twitter name / blog address in the comment.

DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES:

• 3pm [UK time] Sunday 20th May 2012;
• One winner will be selected using a random number generator;
• I will blog the winning name and attempt to get in touch with the lucky winner ASAP afterwards.

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Right then, all that's left to do is say a huge THANK YOU to Docrafts [especially to Katy] and to wish you all the best of luck!

Now, go forth and finish that sentence ...

Julie :-)

Going Postal 2012: Priority greetings [card making]

Hi, hi, hi.

Looks like we've both made it to the first day of Going Postal re-visited so let's just get started with the first of the new projects I've got to share this week. My latest 'bits bag' cards have a suitably posty theme:

See those snippets of yellow and pink printed postage label?

Well, I love them. A lot.

And, considering how this will be the 5th whole week I'll have dedicated to blogging my love of all things mail-ish ...  it would be foolish to deny that I didn't love things like that, wouldn't it?

These ones found their way to my eager hands after James brought home a padded envelope for me from his office [btw: he brings envelopes home because I recycle when sending out my Etsy shop orders ... not just because it's his idea of how to treat a lady!] ... anyway ....  as soon as he handed me the envelope I started peeling them off.

I mean, how often do you see yellow patterned labels printed in pink ink? Not as often as you might hope! So they were certain to make their own unique way on to a project ASAP:

Turns out that I could only wait 24 hours -as the very next day they were turned into cards!

So, when I suggest you take inspiration from the next thing he postie delivers to your door ... I'm serious. It really can work! Especially if it has yellow and pink postage labels ... oh my ...

Supplies:

• X-Cut  'Postage Stamps' nesting die;
• Decorative pins and pearls new in stock at 3DJean;
• Jillibean Soup + October Afternoon stickers / labels;
• Corrugated card as featured in many of my Blank Looks kits;
• lots of scraps from my bit bag.

Don't forget, if you'd like to join me with a postal post of your own, you're more than welcome.
[If you haven't already PLEASE read the details of how to join in from this post.]
And thank you to those who've already let me know they've got something postal planned!

Right then, I'm off now to sit at the bottom of the stairs to gaze at the letterbox ... [and possibly terrify the postie in the process ... ]

;-)

Julie

Going Postal 2012: Introducing the Second Post!

Hello, hello.

It's a touch earlier than I planned but welcome to another week filled with all things postal related!

Turns out I've got that much to share I thought I'd better introduce things a day early, to fit it all in.

Last summer my original Going Postal series consisted of 4 weeks of projects using postage stamps, envelopes and junk mail, lots of inspiration posts in between, blog readers contributing their own examples ... and some lovely prizes too [you can still visit all the posts on the Going Postal Pinterest board here].

As for this week ... well, it may be shorter - a sort of booster injection to metaphorically top-up your mail boxes - but I promise it will feature the same elements. Actually no, I can't promise it will contain posts by other bloggers ... because that bit's out of my hands ... in fact, it's actually your job.

Here's how you can get involved:

• Blog a new post inspired by anything postal related;
• If you won a postal-themed prize last year maybe you'd like to share a project you made with your prize?
• Or if you've been stuck for creative / blogging ideas why not take inspiration from whatever drops on to your doormat tomorrow morning?

Last year people contributed craft projects; photographs of old letters + correspondence; vintage postcard collections ... and more. It's entirely up to you!

• Somewhere in your post add a link to this series [you can link to this post, my blog in general or the Pinterest board];
• Leave me a comment / or tweet me directions to your post;

Then:

• I will visit your post then pin it to the board to share it with other postal-inspired folk;
• [The Going Postal board currently has 627 followers, so anything pinned there will get noticed by at least a few new pairs of eyes!]

Alternatively...
If you don't have time for a full blog post or simply if you prefer it ....

• join in by sharing your postal related photos etc on my Facebook page.

What I'll be delivering this week:

All new examples of :

• card making and
• art journal pages - all using postal ephemera;
• some new postal themed Plundered Pages packs;
• and an exciting giveaway for anyone who likes postal-themed papers and rubber stamps! 

So, be sure to drop in on me during the week to be in with a chance of winning and to pick up some ideas which might just change the way you feel about receiving junk mail!

See you tomorrow, bright and early for the first post of the series ...[pun intended].

Julie  :-)

Cardmaking + 'Coming Soon'

Hello.

[If you live near me - and don't feel like reading the whole post, please scroll down to the end where there's something you might want to get involved in for charity].

I've got news of a few new things today starting with this little card. And it really is a little one, an off-cut of a larger card that I cut down in size. BTW: that's a cotton reel it's sitting on, it's that small:

Like many of my recent cards, this has rounded corners ... and was made from leftovers from several other projects. Except these  scraps hadn't even made it so far as the scrap bag.

They're from a basket I keep on my desk and drop 'bits' into when I'm tidying away. Then, yesterday I needed to make a quick card to pop inside a parcel and just grabbed a few things that matched then stamped a greeting:

Supplies:  Stamps: 'Bold Alphabet 1' by Kars  - a tiny, super-useful set ¦¦  Papers: GCD Studios + My Mind's Eye ¦¦ Postage stamp die: X-Cut ¦¦ Vintage French yellow ribbon: a gift from lovely Kirsty Neale.

Now then, seeing as how we're speaking of postal related stash ....

... then how about this:

What do you say? Are you in? Fancy playing along again?

If you're new here you can see everything that was featured in the first Going Postal delivery here.

Same rules apply as last time, if you want your [new] postal-themed blog post pinning to the Going Postal Pinterest board, make sure to link to the series in your post and then let me know.

Not that anyone has to join me, I've got a few things ready to share on my lonesome!

So that's next week sorted, but before then:

• The latest issue of Papercraft Inspirations Magazine is out now and I have a celebratory card in this particular issue. And they're celebrating because it's the 100th issue! Happy Centenary Jenny + team! xx [Features for Papercraft Inspirations are actually responsible for most of the off-cuts and oddments in my scrap basket lately, leftovers from the articles I'll have popping up in future issues].
• And also the latest issue [33] of Creativity Magazine is available and there's quite a few bits and bobs of mine in there too.

As for the future ...

• I'm currently writing a new class. Actually no, it's more like two new classes.
• The first is going to run along the lines of my other series: 'Tips For the Twitter-Curious' and 'Tips for the Design Team-Curious' [if you missed them 1st time round you can access the full content, free, by clicking the links] and is on a topic I think some of you will find useful ... especially as it's a topic raised by many of you from time to time ...

And finally ... this is just for you if you live in my area:

•  you might have already seen it in the Evening Gazette, but journalist Sarah Dale [who once interviewed me about running online classes] is heading off on a charitable visit to a special needs school in Zambia in a few weeks. [You can read the story here];
• here's a list of what you can donate;
• what it doesn't really mention there - but what Sarah Tweeted about this week - was that she's looking for arts + crafts supplies - so I'm going to fill a box or two in the next few days.
• I thought you might want to too.
• You can post things but you can also simply drop a box off at the Borough Road Gazette Offices reception [before early/mid-June]- with your box marked 'Sarah Dale - Zambia'.   

p.s Sarah has not asked me to ask you! I'm doing this because I thought it was a win-win: we all get to donate to charity while enjoying a guilt-free way to ditch some old papers + stash!

Right, that's enough from me. I'll leave you in peace.

Have a great weekend. See you next week for all things postal!

Julie x

Plundering Pages for Cardmaking: Floral card

Hi, hi, hi.

I don't know where it comes from [OK, I do, it's from my Grandma, but I don't know where she got it from!] but I have a overwhelming attraction to things which, if you were feeling unkind you might call 'tacky' ... but which I prefer to refer to as 'kitsch'. 

And the image I used on this card is a good example of precisely that:

It's cut from an article about flower arranging I found in a 1974 Girl Guide Annual [additional pages of the same book regularly find themselves inside packs of Plundered Pages.]

And while it's a perfectly simple image of a floral display ... there's just something deliciously retro about the colours and styling of the photo.

But, even though I love it for its subtle kitschy values, I still wanted to turn it into a pretty greeting card using modern techniques.

So that's why I combined the vintage image with:

• a kraft card blank;
• Nestabilities dies - I even cut the image to shape using one;
• and some pretty ribbons and trimmings [all from The Ribbon Girl];
• and a decorative pin:

And while that pin may well be very 'now' in terms of crafting must haves it's also completely and fabulously old-school at the same time!

I have an old book about fuchsias I bought to hack to pieces so I could use the covers. But the thing was ... I couldn't bring myself to do it!

Jennifer recently joked in the comments section about whether I offered a class about cutting into old books ... so I guess I should be honest and admit that I can't always manage it myself!

The books which force me to hesitate spend their days on the 'ones that got away' shelf which is higher than the 'fair game' books ... and is therefore pretty much out of my reach!

 Anyway ... this particular fuchsia book is filled with amazingly gaudy technicolour photographs which may now find themselves cut out and glued to the fronts of cards soon ... because this one has whetted my appetite!

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Thanks for taking time to read me today. I'd love to hear from you:

• if after seeing this card you feel like mixing old + new;
• if you've used my Plundered Pages packs in your crafting - there's now a Pinterest board where I pin projects customers have made - so just get in touch and I'll add your work to it;
• and if you've combined any old + new elements in your crafting.

See you soon.

Julie :-)

p.s: I'd also love to hear from you if you just want to say 'hello'.

p.p.s.Twitter or my Facebook page are a great place to do just that.