Saturday 20 June 2009

Our Sponsors

Here is a little bit about our fabulous one and only sponsor



Simon Says Stamp


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Simon Says Stamp has been in business since 2002 and sells the highest quality rubber stamping and paper art supplies in the industry. We have over 100,000 items in stock and offer free shipping for all USA Orders over $60 and all International orders over $120.

BasicGrey is one of the finest brands in the industry and we are pleased to sponsor the challenge and offer these products for sale in our store.

Stop by and have a look, we'd love to have you visit!





Meet the team


Hi all, I'm Martine im 23 years old and I live in Northern Ireland just outside Belfast , I started BasicGrey challenges in September of 2008, I am a BIG lover of BasicGrey and I knew I wasn’t the only one out there, so I went a searching for a Challenge blog for BasicGrey lovers and I was really surprised that there wasn’t one, so I thought to myself why not start one of my own, and so I did, I couldn’t have imagined that we would be as popular as we were and two years later we are still going strong, I am so lucky to have such a wonderful design team with me on this blog and each time I see their creations to the challenges I am blown away, the talent of these ladies is just amazing and I am sure you all agree, any ho this is meant to be a bio about me so I will get back to it hehe, I have always been crafty and insited on crafty goodies for Christmas and Birthdays when i was younger (I still do hehe) but I only started card making about 4-5 years ago (I think), I was either 19 at the time or going on 19 so I don’t have a pin point date when I started crafting, but I do know that it all started with some hand made Christmas cards that my family received, I fell in love with them and really wanted to have a go at it myself, little did I know it was soooo addictive, I am still very much into crafting now and naturally I want I mean need hehe everything crafty I see, but I must admit that the biggest culprits in my crafty stash are rubber stamps and yep you guessed it BasicGrey hehe


Favourite BasicGrey Line

Hmmm that’s a toughie, it would probably have to be LilyKate, I adore the soft shabby chic colours in this range, and just recently I had to buy a new LilyKate paper pad, honestly I did have to, it forced me into it :P


Favourite BasicGrey Embellishment

oooo it would defiantly have to be the Buttons, I adore all Basicgrey buttons no matter what range they are from.


Favourite Colour Combo

Well at the moment I would say Red, Yellow and Blue with a bit of Brown thrown in :)

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Hi, I’m Chris, I live near Brighton on the South Coast in the UK with my Husband and two grown up Sons. I’ve always had some kind of craft hobby and I’ve always enjoyed drawing and colouring, I used to save my pocket money as a child to buy coloured pencils and drawing materials but I didn’t start paper crafting until I was introduced to the world of scrapbooks in 2007. My intention was to make a scrapbook but making cards took over very quickly when I discovered all the wonderful stamp companies out there, it’s the stamps that make me want to make cards. I enjoy the colouring of the image part of making a card the most, it’s very therapeutic and I like to use all the different mediums but I’d say that water colour is my favourite. I love working with distress inks and the many techniques for changing the appearance of paper, it’s a lot of fun!

I was very proud to be picked by Martine to be part of the BasicGrey Challenges Design Team when she had a DT call and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it so far, making the most lovely talented friends in the process and working with my favourite products. A piece of BasicGrey from the Sultry line was the first piece of patterned paper I ever bought and I have a few more now J


Favourite BasicGrey Line

Hmm, which week is it? This is a very difficult one, I love so many of them and am always taken with the latest releases, June Bug at the moment is hard to put down, but for the real favourite I have to go for Granola, it’s the one I’ve had to buy again as I’d used my first pad up, it’s so versatile and I use it a lot for male cards.


Favourite BasicGrey Embellishment

This one is easy, I love the BasicGrey buttons and have them in lots of colours.


Favourite Colour Combo

Kraft and any other colour as it seems to go with everything and I’d use it all the time if I could!

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Hi i'm Jo and I live in the beautiful County of Wiltshire with my long suffering and patient husband and our two gorgeous girls. Many years ago I was a Legal Secretary and left that all behind to become a SAHM when I had our first daughter. Since then I have popped my head around the door and covered for holidays and sickness but my main priority is staying at home to look after the girls. I have made my own cards for as long as I can remember but I only started becoming an addict around 2 years ago when my friend showed me her scrapbooking and it was so fantastic, I started looking into it. I then discovere d blogs and all these fantastic, talented people making the most fantastic cards! Nearly 2 years down the line I have no dining room and my purse is a lot lighter! I was absolutely thrilled when Martine accepted me onto her DT and I feel so proud to be part of this amazing, talented team who never cease to blow me away.


Favourite BasicGrey Line
Oooo this is a tough one for me too as I love all BasicGrey and its so versatile for any card you wish to make whether it be male/female, adult or child. I do love the softness of Porcelain and the masculine feel of Granola and Archaic.


Favourite BasicGrey Embellishment

My favourite products are the brads and buttons. Again they are so versatile to use on other embellies and its fantastic how they all match the papers.

Favourite Colour Combo

My favourite colour combo at the moment is blue and brown. I just adore it!

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This is me Kim, I really need a better photograph! I am currently a stay at home mum to a wonderful energetic five year old boy Dillon and beautiful baby girl Maoleidigh. Just to mention my wonderful fiance Steve too, who's very supportive of my craft and blog addictions (I'm saying nothing about his fishing... honest!!!) I love all things paper, cutting, folding, printing, card, fabrics, materials... Although I love to draw and have done quite a few commissions, my time is often used to create a card or two! I have always been arty and we were a family who would often craft something but about three years ago I needed a card for my Nan's 80th birthday and discovered all the wonderful new products on the market. BG is stunning and I just love to use their stuff. I was very honoured, to have had one of my BG cards in the Basic Grey gallery. I am part of four fabulous design teams and also regularly contribute to Craft Stamper Magazine..


Favourite BasicGrey Line
BasicGrey always surprise me with their latest designs, I can't choose just one line. Urban prairie I really loved and I think I may have bought two 12 x 12 collections,(actually three one was for blog candy) as I did for boxer but now the Lemonade AND June bug are just gorgeous!!!


Favourite BasicGrey Embellishment
Pretty much all of them please, LOL! Like the rest of the team I would always go for my BG buttons but the BG bling is trying to tempt me their way!


Favourite Colour Combo

You don't even want to get me started on this... Give me a rainbow with lots of pink in and you'll find it in BG papers!!!

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Hi I'm Heather, I've been 50 something for a few years now. I have two children, a daughter who has two sons and a son who has one daughter.
My cat (Chester) and I have just moved from Blackburn, Lancashire in the UK to Bergen in Germany. My son and family live here and I wanted to spend a little time with and around them.
I worked as a beauty/holistic therapist until I retired, prior to coming to Germany, but I trained originally to do graphic design. I have been crafting of one type or another all my life but only took up and making cards for a few years. About two years ago I tried stamping and that was it - an addiction was born and from there came blogging - my second addiction - I have 'met' so many wonderful blogging people and made so many cyber friends and am amazed at the awesome talent out there.
My other hobbies are gardening, reading and travelling.


Favourite BasicGrey Line

Difficult - a long time favourite is Lilykate, Granola (I love the blues and browns - perfect for masculine cards) Porcelain - so pretty, but at the present it has to be Wisteria - the colours and patterns are so scrumptious. Let's face it they're all gorgeous and such wonderful quality.


Favourite BasicGrey Embellishment

Easy - it has to be the Flourish edge stamps - they pop up somewhere on most of my cards.

Favourite Colour Combo

Another difficult one - I love brown with all the pastels, pink, blue, lemon, peach etc. Blue and green together must be one of my all time favourites.


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Hi, I'm Tara, I'm very honoured to be a member of the fabulously talented BG DT!!! I am 37 years old and happily married for 12 years (soon to be 13 years) to my wonderful husband Chris and I'm the mother of two super cute kids, Hannah, is 10 yrs old and Kieran, is 7 1/2 yrs old. I work full-time as an American Sign Language interpreter for a non-profit agency serving Deaf, deafened and hard of hearing people in Ontario, Canada. I have been scrapbooking/paper crafting almost 7 years now and stamping for about 2 years and I am totally addicted it! I am especially addicted to all things BasicGrey but aren't we all!


Favourite BasicGrey Line
My Favourite BG line is usually whatever the newest collection is at the time, so right now I'm totally loving Lemonade.


Favourite BasicGrey Embellishment

I love the new Bling and Opaline embellies and the co-ordinating brads are always a must-have item.

Favourite Colour Combo

My favourite colour combo right now is the yummy colours in the Lemonade line...the bright pink, sunny yellow and blue is just a fabulous combination!


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Past Design Team Members




How to Play Along

Welcome

Welcome to BasicGrey Challenges, every second Saturday a challenge will be set here on the BasicGrey Challenges blog, Playing along with the BasicGrey Challenges couldn't be more simple, all you need to do is follow the specifications of the set challenge, Use at least one item from BasicGrey and give us a link to your creation :), simple eh!, so have fun (How to post a link is explained further down this page )

Oh and of course, all papercraft creations are welcome :)
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Challenges


The challenges on our blog will run every 2 weeks in a random drawing, we are trying to keep it nice and simple which makes it that much easier for everyone taking part, plus it also means that you can combine your creations with other challenge blogs much easier :)

We have taken the decision to limit entries to 3 per person.   Your entries must be new creations and not backlinked.


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Taking Part

Participants must make sure to have their creations linked in the Mr Linky/In Linkz or emailed to us (Non blog owners only) by 11.00pm (UK Time) on the Friday before the next challenge is set, To make things easier a deadline date will be posted with each new challenge, Entries posted in the comments will not count, so please be sure to link via Mr Linky, also be sure to link to the blog post containing your entry and NOT just your blog as this makes it so much easier for us to find your creations.


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Winners


Winners of the previous challenge will be announced in a separate post a few hours after the new challenge is posted, the winner then has until the next challenge to contact us to claim their prize, if the winner does not contact us in time then a new winner will be chosen.


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Combining Challenges


Feel free to combine your entries to our challenges to any other challenge blog that allows you to do this , even if you do combine your card you can still be chosen as a winner :)

Please remember that we only allow up to 3 entries person.


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How to link to your creation
(Mr Linky)

To give us a link to your creation (not your blog) follow these simple steps

1. Click on the post title that contains your creation

2. Go all the way to the top of your screen and copy the code that is in the URL box, this is the box you would type www web addresses into :)

3. Go to the Mr Linky on the BasicGrey challenge you are participating in

4. Type your name into the top box that asks for your name

5. Paste your code that you have copied from the URL on your blog post, into the box that says your URL

6. Click on the enter button, and hey presto your link is created :) :)


How to link to your creation
(In Linkz)

1. Click on the post title that contains your creation

2. Go all the way to the top of your screen and copy the code that is in the URL box, this is the box you would type www web addresses into :)

3. Go to the In Linkz Widget on the BasicGrey challenge you are participating in

4. Paste your URL code that you copied from your blog post into the box asking for your URL (Top Box)

5. Enter your name

6. Enter your Email

7. Click Next Step

8. Select the picture you would like to show up as your entry link from the images that have been generated from your blog, or you can choose to upload one of your choice by either entering an image URL (from your Photobucket or Flickr account etc), or upload one directly from your computer by choosing one of these options from the top of the web page you are now on.

9. When you have chosen your image simply click "select" if choosing from one of the images generated from your blog, "Submit Query" if you are uploading an image from a URL address, or "Upload" if you are uploading an image from your computer, and hey presto the In Linkz Widget will do the rest for you :)


If you do not have a blog or online photo gallery etc, then please feel free to email your creations to us here and we will be more than happy to place your creations onto the blog, but please this is only for non blog owners, thank you


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Please Note

Please note that even though we really appreciate you taking the time to enter our challenges, And we love to visit all of your blogs , We unfortunately cannot promise to leave comments (although we will do our very best to try), as to be truthful this would take forever, we feel that crafting and blogging should be fun and not a chore, and if we spend all of our time commenting then that takes away valuable time that we could be using to craft and get on with day to day life, we do hope that you understand our reasons for this and we our sorry if this offends anyone in anyway

Thank you