IHP Birthday Bash!

Hello and welcome to the i {heart} papers 2nd Birthday Bash blog hop and scavenger hunt!  You should have arrived here from Laura's blog.  If you're jumping into the middle (or if you're lost!) be sure to start at Kate's.  You don't want to miss a thing!

Today we’re celebrating two great years of IHP and are delighted to have some fabulous guest designers playing along with our talented design team members to bring some birthday paper-crafting inspiration your way!  Our design team and guests are revealing their creations for this month's design team challenge--to design the "Perfect Pair"--a birthday card and coordinating gift, tag or other presentation item.   

We would love if you would join us in making a Perfect Pair of your own (upload to your blog or an online gallery with the keyword IHPBB10).  Be sure to post your link on Kate’s blog so we can see your project and enter your name in our challenge prize drawings.  

In addition to today's design team challenge, we've got some fun celebrating in store for tomorrow and Thursday!  Don't worry - you won't have to hop every day!  Kate will be hosting a sketch challenge tomorrow on her blog, and Deb has another challenge for you on Thursday. Winners for each day will be randomly drawn from each day's entries, and everyone who plays along, either with the challenges and/or the scavenger hunt (more on that below) will be eligible for the grand prize drawing that will close the festivities on Friday.

Submitting your challenge projects is not the only way to win!  Tucked into the text of today's blog posts we've provided clues to an easy scavenger hunt (most have to do with our favorite products and tools or hobbies and interests we have) that we invite you to play as you hop.   When you find the answer, click the link to visit the store and collect "evidence" that is listed on that particular product’s page and email your complete list, in blog hop order, to Kate when you're finished.  You can take your time and stretch the hop over the three days of our Birthday Bash celebration...it's not a race, but like any other sale, the earlier you shop, the better the selection!  Deadline to submit your scavenger hunt entry is Friday, Oct 22nd, 3AM EST.

By participating in the scavenger hunt you'll receive an exclusive, one time use 20% off coupon code to use when you shop at i {heart} papers.  (This will be emailed to you after the Bash when entries are checked.)  You will also be entered for your chance to win the grand prize $50 gift certificate drawing on Friday. 

ALL orders placed during the Bash (Oct 19-21) will receive a free goodie bag of surprise merchandise.  The more you spend, the bigger your goodie bag!

Also, there will be random drawings for additional prizes from our PaperCraft Planet group members, our mailing list (sign up on the right side of the homepage) and our fans on Facebook.  If you are on all three, then you’ve got triple the chances to win!

Here is my project for this challenge;

I used gesso to seal the chipboard heart and set it aside to dry.  Then, I sponged ink from my re-inkers on the heart, using a dry sponge to have a very mottled look with the 4 shades of brown.  I again set the heart aside to dry, but before the heart was fully dry, I applied the glossy accents.  Since the glossy accents is water based, it began reactivating the ink, creating the slight ink swirls.  I really love it because it looks like tortoise shell.

I set the heart aside for a third time to allow the glossy accents to dry.  Now, my oops;  I thought it was fully dry and began positioning the lock over the heart.  I dropped it and mushed a small area of glossy accents that was still wet.  *GACK*  I was miffed, so I turned the locket over and positioned it over the mushed section and pushed it down (hard - I was miffed after all!) into the wet glossy accents.  I used brads to hold the locket in place for decoration only.  As soon as I pushed the lock into the barely wet glossy acents, that baby couldn't be moved at all!!!

Here's a close-up of the heart;

 

I used a scrap of the lightest paper in the Steampunk Debutante paper pad to stamp my sentiment.  My daughter thinks this lady's face is absolutely lovely.  Frankly, she creeps me out a bit!  What I do love is the clock image right under the sentiment.  I love it when scraps come together.

For my project I used: 

Stamps: Moments in Bloom (unity)

Ink: Antique Linen, Tea Dye, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain distress reinkers (hint)

Patterned Paper:  Steampunk (graphic45), kraft (paper accents), raven (bazzill)

Other: Locket Key, Sprocket Gears (tim holtz idea-ology), artisan elements (pink paislee), jumbo scallop petite borderabilities (spellbinders), black crepe ribbon (creative impressions), jet basic lines crystals (zva), natural linen cord hank (canvas corp.), beetle black brads (bazzill), glossy accents (ranger), bow easy, black satin ribbon (offray)
 

Your next stop on the hop is Lori!   There's a list of all of the participating designers on Kate's blog just in case you get lost along the way!