Some exciting new products!

We have been secretly working behind the scenes with a lovely UK company called swagmycase, to create beautiful phone covers based on some favourite Paper Panda designs.Panda Admin Vicky has been road-testing the Elizabeth and Victoria designs, and is super impressed with the quality.
We now have 9 designs available!
Available in two types - 'tough' is a gorgeous glossy style with a durable rubber lining, and 'slim' is a super slim-fitting shiny style.
Over 20 devices are supported, so whatever you use, you should be able to join the fun.
Delivery takes just two working days in the UK, perfect for last minute presents.
They're looking to add more devices in the new year, so if you don't see yours yet - watch this space!http://swagmycase.com/collections/paper-panda/

Another exciting product added to the shop this week is the ceramic Alice in Wonderland trinket pot, featuring the Tea Party design on the lid, and text from the book around the edge.
Perfect for storing your little important things!
Very limited stock!

http://paperpanda.bigcartel.com/product/ceramic-alice-in-wonderland-trinket-pot

There is still time to nab your own original papercut in time for Christmas from the 'Paper Panda & Friends' exhibition at the Obsidian Art gallery. There are pieces in all sizes from teeny tiny miniatures to intricate A3 cuts, in a variety of styles including this colourful original. I also have some laser pieces for sale over there, so pop on over and have a look!
http://www.shop.obsidianart.co.uk/collections/winter-wonders-with-paper-panda-friends

200,000 Facebook likes, lots of new products and 1 Christmas party! Whew - What a week!

So last Sunday (November 30th) we passed 200,000 likes on our Facebook page!
To celebrate we had a pretty immense 200minute, 20% off discount offer...Which was hectic! Thank you all so much for your purchases & support!
This is a pretty momentous milestone and without wanting to sound too gushy I'd like to thank my team who've gotten me through some rough patches this year that I couldn't have survived without them, so thanks guys for keeping the page, emails and my brain running smoothly, you rock.
Thanks to Trisha at Obsidian Art for letting me have my own show (still lots left peeps!) and thank you to Search Press Art and Craft Books who have enough faith in me to convince me a bigger, better book should be written even before my little one has been made. Cool! You can pre-order the little one here!
Thank you to my likers, every one of you (except you, maybe *points at troll*) for without you this rockin' little page wouldn't exist and I'd have to go and work somewhere less exciting, maybe even outside, which would suck.
Thanks, just thanks. Love you xxx.

On the same day I popped over to Obsidian Art Gallery for a meet & greet for the Winter Wonders and Friends exhibition.
Here's the super lovely and talented Kim Anderson Artist & Illustrator and Marnie makes, and a gurning Panda.

     
Thank you to everyone who came along and said hello, you're all awesome beyond words, and I couldn't do this without you! Obviously I couldn't go over the gallery without taking a few extra originals now, could I? Do pop over and check if you get the chance!

This week also saw the super shiny Paper Panda email newsletter for November hit your inboxes! It's well worth signing up for if you haven't already! You get all the news straight from PP HQ, offer codes, I let you know my favourite nail varnish of the month and you get snippets about the team too! In the November issue you can learn a bit about Manager Julie and her Christmas Twig. Intriguing! Sign up here!
New Products Alert!

Not only are there a whopping 7 new card designs available, there are also 2 swanky notebooks as well.

These two gorgeous new Wonderland inspired clear stamp sets have also been added to the online shop this week.

On Saturday we had the Paper Panda Christmas Party! The team were all gathered in Bourton on the Water for a little seasonal get together! Some of us meeting for the first time! Eeek! (minus Emily - she bailed to go her niece's third birthday party - PAH! )

Say Cheese! ;) This year we did a handmade Secret Santa for our Christmas gifts, it's been fun for all of us to try and make the 'perfect' gift for each other! I think next year we'll have to think of something a little easier though, as we said we had to try a new craft, so I couldn't make a Papercut and Our Julie thinks she has the creativity of a teaspoon, we all know that's not true though, she made an awesome gift, A guinea pig house for Vicky's little piggies, it was perfect!
It was great to see what everyone had come up with, A needle felted Roy Ragdoll cat for me from Mr P! Admin Vicky made a smashing origami mirror frame from maps for TimSam. TimSam made Emily a gorgeous fish plush..I could go on...You can see updates on the Facebook wall. ;)
All in all it has been a pretty fabulous week! P xx



A note about postage - This time of year is incredibly busy for us so things may take a day or two longer to dispatch than normal, rest assured we are working as fast and we can to get your orders out to you swiftly. It is also mega busy for Royal Mail, we rely on their service to help keep ours tip top. Obviously we cannot guarantee a parcel arrving on or by a certain date due to this. We still use the first class service and we will be posting out as normal, Monday to Friday, right up until around the 20th (if not later) of December! I would advice that your purchase your items, sooner rather than later to help minimise the chance of late delivery.

*Instant items - Gift Vouchers & Emailed templates, these will still continue to arrive in the speedy manner, as normal.

** Made to order items - Canvas prints, vinyls & decorations - the final posting date has passed for guaranteed Christmas delivery, these items can take a while to arrive, so may not get there before the big day!

#PandaChallenge - Reflections

The latest #PandaChallenge was simply titled 'Reflections'- we left the interpretation up to your imagination!

Team Panda and I have spent today looking through all your artwork, and we are pretty impressed! No, very very impressed! By 'eck, you're a talented bunch. Thank you to everyone that took part. 

We chose these four as our overall favourites, we loved the interpretations of the theme...

Here are collages of all the amazing entries :) Well done and thank you all again for entering xx

Recent Happenings at PP HQ.

I've been a busy bee lately, along with new Christmassy templates I also had a little idea.
A lot of people say that they can't draw (you should give it a go! You'll be better than you think!) but still want to create something unique.
I thought that rather than the usual templates that we have, this one has lots of little elements that you can trace to make an individual papercut.
So in one you can have FBH with a massive cake, in another Bunny & Bird looking up at the moon with stars hanging from the clouds, y'know?
It'll take a bit longer as it's not all laid out and needs tracing but you will get satisfaction of putting together your own design.
And it's FBH. With cake.
*crosses fingers it works!* I'd love to see what you can make with it.
Check it out here.



I've also been playing with new framing techniques which means that the cream cuts floating over vintage book pages stand out a little more. Good huh?

                               


This is one of the pieces that's going in the Paper Panda and Friends Exhibition at Obsidian Art Gallery in Bucks from November! Most of my time is focussed on pieces for the exhibition and finishing the book! Which you can pre order here.

Today, this is what I'm currently doing... 


Blue bunny says "I don't care if your heart is singing, stop making me cut tiny letters. It gives me a headache."
*sits on blue bunny*
"Mmmfh mmmmfffph!!!"
*carries on cutting*

P xx

What A Wonderful World FREEBIE

I have this song running through my head so I figured more people should also be randomly singing it too so I whipped up this quick typographical template that you can use. It's called an ear worm, did you know? When something gets stuck in your head? Random bit of info for you there...
Anyway, I figured then we'll all be ever so slightly happier. Yes.
Everybody SING!!!

Your final cut will fit into an Ikea Ribba frame 23x23cm. You can pop a photo of a special someone inside the heart, fill it with glitter or jib it off entirely, tis up to you. Please don't ask us to email any free templates - ask a mate or summit cos it's FREE innit? ;)
....SING dagnammit!*

Download HERE

 "And I think to myseeeelf...."

How Well Do You Know The Woodland Friends...Contest Winner - Under 11's!

The under 11's category was a tough one! All of the entries were so brilliant! You should all be super proud of yourselves!
I picked this story because I love the storyline, the characters and the little details!! Big congratulations to Erin Whyte, Aged 8.

Here is Erin's fantastic story...
It was a Tuesday in the forest. The woodland friends had gathered together for a spot of lunch. Bird sang happily in the tree and a great feeling of love was in the air as they played in the dappled sunlight without a care in the world. It was time to see what goodies were for lunch. Bunny found a lovely big cream cake and was just about to take a generous bite when..

.....they heard trumpets and that meant there was a new animal in the forest, her name was Luna. She was a little baby pony .

Bunny said to Luna "Welcome, I hope you had safe travels.

 Luna said  I did, I came to the woods because I was having some rough times in my life.

 Bird said "can you tell us your life time story?"

"Sure"  said Luna, "I was born on may 23rd 2013, I am only 1 years old. One day a terrible storm came and it flooded the farm that I lived on, I think I was the only one who made it out. My parents didn`t make it out, the farm was destroyed. So that's my story so far."

 Bunny was so sad and Bird started to cry.

Bunny invited Luna to join their picnic lunch, after they had all finished they all went to play together in the bright beams of sunlight that were shining through the trees.

After a little while the sun beams started to fade.

Bunny said "It's starting to get late so we better all go to sleep."

Luna was sad because she had nowhere to sleep,  Luna looked around and thought to herself that the forest looked really nice so I'll ask if I'm allowed to stay.

Luna walked up to Bunny and asked if she would be allowed to stay for the night. Bunny said, "Of course you are welcome, we always have space for more animals and you can sleep in my house. It's the one in the old hollowed out tree. Once we are there I'll let you meet my family and you can have some supper with us."

Bunny introduced Luna to all his family, his mum Jenny, his dad Rupert, His little brother Benjamin and is little sister Holly. They had a lovely supper and Jenny told everyone to get off to bed because it was getting late.

In the morning Bunny decided that everyone should go on an adventure to explore the woods and find Luna's farm. Bunny , Bird and Luna set off on their adventure after they had a snack.

The first night of the adventure Bunny saw something glowing in a pile of leaves and dust, Bunny said "It's a magic wand."

Bird began to feel hungry, suddenly the wand started to glow. It made them all a big feast, they all felt very happy and they really enjoyed the feast as it was very delicious.

After the feast Bunny said "It is getting late." Luna started to feel tired and the wand stated to glow again, It gave them all a tent to sleep in.

The next day they got up and had some breakfast, then they set off on their adventure again.  At one point in their adventure they came across an old oak tree, they found an old badger called Jim. Bunny said "we are on an adventure would you like to join us?"

"Of course" said Jim.

Luna jumped in and told him she was on an adventure to find the farm she used to live in that got torn down by a storm. Jim told them he used to live on that farm and it is rebuilt now and some other animals survived. Luna was curious to see if her parents survived.

Next in their adventure they met an old sheep dog called Rounder, Luna asked him if he wanted to join them to find the farm that her and old badger used to live on. Rounder told them he used to live on the farm too and he would like to join them.

They all set off walking and bird spotted some large buildings in the distance. "That's the farm shouted Luna, "I recognise every single bit of it." At the corner of her eye Luna noticed some ponies that looked very familiar prancing about in the field. They came galloping up to her.

Luna realised that they were her parents and she was trying to hold back her tears. Luna's mum Celestia said "Oh Luna, we thought we'd never see you again."

Then Luna's dad flash came running up to her and said "Oh Luna we have missed you dearly."

Luna and her parents had joined together back into the farm, the farm animals and the woodland animals became friends. Flash said "The woodland animals are welcome to visit us anytime they like".

The woodland animals and the farm animals joined their worlds together and lived in harmony.

The EndVery well done to all the under 11 entry authors! Fabulous stories!!
(David Surgenor, please pop an email over so we can get a little prize out to Erin! Thanks.) 

How well do you know the Woodland Friends? - Contest Winner!

We had some really genuinely cracking entries for this contest, I thoroughly enjoyed reading every one of them, and found it so hard to pick a winner! Everyone who entered clearly put so much time, effort, thought and love into their stories.
However, there can only be one winner (well, two, Over 11's and Under 11's... but in this post you're going to see the Over 11's).
I picked this story because of the humorous and clever use of the characters combined with real life, I thought it worked really well.
So congratulations, Danielle Lake-Langley, and here's the story in all it's unedited (and sweary) glory...

It was a Tuesday in the forest. The woodland friends had gathered together for a spot of lunch. Bird sang happily in the tree and a great feeling of love was in the air as they played in the dappled sunlight without a care in the world. It was time to see what goodies were for lunch. Bunny found a lovely big cream cake and was just about to take a generous bite when...

...there was a loud thunk behind him. "Shit!" Bunny turned around, he had never heard anything make that noise before. There sat on the grass was, well, he wasn't sure what it was. It was big but it had small ears and it was dressed a bit funny too. The big thing was wearing black trousers but looked like its white waistcoat was on over the top of its jacket, you could only see the black jacket sleeves. "Shit! Shit! Fuck!" it continued.

 Bunny looked at Bird, he was sat in the tree with his beak wide open in shock. It looked like Bunny would be investigating this alone. Bunny took a large bite of his cake (For courage.) then stowed it away for later. As he hopped over to the thing that made the funny noise it started to cry. "Excuse me, erm what are you?"

The big thing was sat with its eyes shut, "I'm Louise.", it said as it wiped its eyes on the back of its paw. Bunny thought for a moment, "We've never had a Louise here before. How did you get here?"

The Louise began to explain," I was in my studio paper cutting as usual when I heard the ice cream van, it was really hot and I do love Mr Whippy. Any way Mr Panda wasn't around and I couldn't send Munch, he's no good with change and he'd eat it all before he got back..." Bunny was listening intently, he had no idea who Mr Whippy was but if the Louise loved him who was Mr Panda? And what on earth was a Munch?

"So I decided to be brave and I went to get one myself." The Louise continued. "Well on my way to the van I tripped over and fell through the hedge, now I'm here. With my paper cuts. I've turned into a Panda. I've finally gone mad!"

Bunny smiled, "Oh we're all mad h..." Bunny stopped, the Louise was glaring at him. "No Bunny! Don't say that, to be honest this whole thing is looking more and more like a massive copyright issue."

Louise looked at Bunny and sighed, Bunny shifted uncomfortably on his little fluffy tail. He didn't know what the Louise was talking about. "I don't like being outside." mumbled the Louise. Bunny wiggled his nose, he wasn't sure what to say next. They sat in silence for a while, "I like cake." Bunny announced, then he hopped over to a small bush and began to rummage in it. A moment later he produced a cake and hopped back to the Louise, holding out the cake very carefully he asked, "Would you like some?". The Louise had a nibble and so did Bunny.

Bunny sat and had a think, he looked from the Louise to his cake and the cake to the hedge. "Curiouser and curi..." Bunny was being glared at again, "Oh alright, I was just thinking if you came in through that hedge over there, you could try going back through it to get home to Mr Whippy."

The Louise smiled fondly at Bunny, then got up and walked towards the hedge, before she went through Bunny asked, "What's your name?" The Louise smiled, "I'm the mistress of copyright, the conqueror of internet trolls and the worlds' number one Mr Whippy fan. My name is Paper Panda."

And just like that the Louise vanished. Bunny never saw the Louise again but every so often strange cakes would appear in front of the hedge, the top was white and went drippy if you left it too long, it had a brown stick in it. Bunny called them "Num-nums" because they were so delicious that was the noise you made when you ate them.

THE END...Or is it?

Story written by Danielle Lake-Langley, who is a little bit useless but can make a pretty cake when she's brave enough to leave the bedroom.

Influenced massively by real life Paper Panda, Louise Firchau and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1865). Seriously kids, copyright theft is not cool.

How well do you know the Woodland Friends?

This here notebook has the beginnings of a story. You may have seen on the listing about the 'finish the story' competition. If you haven't seen, well why not. ;)

I'll fill you in...

'How well do you know the animals? If you purchase a notebook you can enter into the 'finish the story' competition to win your own small, original Paper Panda papercut of your favourite Woodland character. Please email your entry to paperpandacuts@hotmail.co.uk by 1st September 2014. There are two age categories, under 11's and over 11's. Good luck!'

So there you have it, give those little brains a whirl and pop a little story over to us to enter! 

You only have this weekend left to be in with a chance, don't miss out!

The story so far...

It was tuesday in the forest. The Woodland Friends had gathered together for a spot of lunch. Bird sang happily in the tree and a great feeling of love was in the air as they played in the dappled sunlight without a care in the world. It was time to see what goodies were for lunch. Bunny found a lovely big cream cake and was just about to take a generous bite when...


Go grab your notebook and get scribbling then pop your story over to paperpandacuts@hotmail.co.uk

Please let us know your age, so we pop your entry into the correct category!
Good luck! 

*Squish*

I made this today...

 I made this today *proudly shoves in Mum's face in the hopes she'll stick it to the fridge*
The process went as thus (posh voice):
I drew a square in Corel Draw the same size as the mount in the final frame then drew some wavy lines and popped the writing on, remembering to flip it, then printed it. Why do we flip? Well, the back is the scruffy side with all the scribble. You can't rub it out afterwards because it leaves a right mess and you'll rip your cut. I did actually see a papercut in a shop once for over a grand and there was pencil marksall over the front. Pffft, amateurs *winks*
Sharpened my trusty pencil - okay, that's a lie as it's a propelling one but I mentally sharpened it then drew freehand the little people, lots of swirls and the stars.

Then I grumbled about hating to cut swirls and got to work.
I went against all my own rules and cut all over the place rather than just running from the top to the bottom. Why? Because I didn't want to get bored and my swirls get worse as they reached the bottom, or what can happen is that you can start out with little tight swirls and realise they are fatter at the bottom, so anyway, I randomly cut different parts all over.
I'd also usually keep all the pieces in until right at the end because it keeps the paper more stable, reduces the risk of it catching on the edge of the mat or your sleeve and you can also do a big "ta-da" reveal at the end.
 

 But I didn't so that because I was taking progress photo's which would have been pretty rubbish if they were all filled in the whole way.
So, here it is. I think we'll make a card design of it, what do you think?


*footnote* remember there's an online shop with a fab starter kit in it amongst other things that you would love, honest, it's great! Ask those people, there *points*  www.paperpanda.bigcartel.com

This week in Pandaland...

It's fabulous fantastical fish and chippy Friday folks!
This week in Pandaland...
Well I've been working on the book pages and also some material designs (which is what Alice is for) this week. I just deviated a little and made a couple of miniatures today, one of which is here *points* and the other is 'Stay Weird' hee hee. Also this week I've ordered some new stuff with naughty designs for those risque papercutting lovers out there so they'll be in the shop soon.
This week we've been working in the studio with new peeps Sam and Jo and it's free'd...freed...freeeed (you know how it doesn't look right when you type a word? Well that's one of them!) up a lot of time for Mr Panda to get back to being artistic again so he's been working on this sculpture which is still in the very early stages but I reckon the Death Of Rats is looking pretty cool so far, don't you?
I've been seeing how many packets of Fish & Chips I can eat. I say 'eat' but you have to suck them. Yes, really. Buy them, buy them now and rejoice in their salty goodness. I'm up to 15 today and my mouth looks like a cats bum. Mmmm.
Today I went to the salon (to be read in an american accent) and had my nails done (I had them Shellaced - is that how you spell it?) for holibobs so had to have it taken off again) and then on my way home nipped into the Damien Hirst exhibition in Stow. £3000 for a small printed red spot in a limited edition run? Wowsers. Just wowsers. BUT but but...butterflies - now they were gorgeous foil prints and satisfied my need for shiny things. Yes, I liked his butterflies. Dots? Not so much.
As was just typing there was a noise from behind me. I turn and all 50kg of Wooly Alaskan Malamute has climbed up onto the pink couch behind me. He has never done that before! I guess he's seen tiny puppy Chewy do it and though "why not?". Made me laugh.

Hello!

Hello! *big waves* How is everyone this week? I've had a fabulous post delivery today, look! There was a big box full of individually wrapped presents that made me laugh as I opened them. Samantha R thank you - I shall wear the glasses forever (nooo I didn't take them immediately off for the next photo, honest!) and the biscuits are actually gorgeous and you should have nommed them all yourself
And look! Probably my all time favorite present, how cute is this little plate from Angel? Thank you lovely, I'm glad you liked your pens and a big hello to your mummy Claire B xx
This week I've been kissing my desk and wondering how on earth I ever cut paper before. My hands hurt! My knobbly finger callous had started to get better while I was away - NOT a good thing as now my finger isn't protected and it's SORE. My neck aches from bending over my desk again. Basically I should never take breaks, like, ever because I clearly had a rhythm that's gone totally out of whack. Ahh well, *mans up*.
So as you know I've been working on the book templates. This means the page/shop is a bit devoid of new cuts as I'm not showing them to you yet, but see? I've included a handy 1cm strip as this IS a papercutting page after all :)  *tease*
Every day since my return I've been going for a little walk every night in an attempt to stop being so hermitty. Bourton on the Water is a beautiful place and once I actually put on my shoes and go outside I really quite enjoy it. On my travels I have actually found someone that is clearly just as bonkers as me. If you know who it is PLEASE tell me because I MUST meet the person that is sticking little messages (yesterdays read 'dirty lazy owner') in the local dog poo. They make flags from cocktail sticks!! It's very creative. It also makes you definitely make sure you have spare bags in your pocket so it DOES work....but really? REALLY??! I've censored the photo as it's lunchtime, but I had to show you, made me chuckle (also think of me bending over to take a photo hee hee)... Cotswold Life Magazine you need to get Dom Jolly to investigate this local phenomena...
Happy Wednesday everyone! P xx

Who's going to be Star Gazing tomorrow night?

Well, there were around 140 of you in the running and a name has been picked in the traditional Panda way, by an 11 year old randomly pointing at the list of orders. The 'Star Gazing' medium original has now been packaged and is leaving Panda Mansion today via Special Delivery to get to the lucky recipient before 1pm tomorrow.
But, I can't tell you who it is can I, that would spoil the surprise! All I can say is that there's lots of S's in the address, but none in the person's name... ooh, it's like a secret spy code! If that sounds like it could be you, then don't forget to answer the door to postie tomorrow (doesn't matter if you're still in your PJs) because you'll have to sign for your original Paper Panda papercut. We'd LOVE to see a photo of you with it.
Thanks so much to everyone who took part. If you weren't the winner, then I do hope you love your PP order anyway - thanks heaps! You're awesome.
P xxx

Star Gazing...

Would you like to own this?

'Star Gazing' Medium original 23x23cm hand drawn and hand cut original papercut floating over a dusty blue background creating beautiful shadows inside the handmade frame. 
There are a few of these floating around as there's a template that you can buy from our shop to cut it yourself, but this piece is the only one cut by me, ol' Panda Paws and was actually used to create the new DIY template.
If you buy anything from the Panda Store up until 3pm tomorrow afternoon(19th August 2014) you may receive this original piece when you wake up on Wednesday morning.
(unless you're outside the UK then I'm afraid it's a bit out of our postal systems remit to be THAT quick hee hee).
It applies to everyone from Zurich to Zimbabweeeee and there's no extra postage to pay or 'owt. At 3pm tomorrow I'll ask Poppy to choose one of your names to receive it in with your order. There's no discrimination or minimum order - you could buy a card or a canvas, everyone is in with a chance to win. It is framed in a handmade beech wood box frame 23x23cm and finished with the engraved Paper Panda tag. It comes gift boxed ready to give to a loved one, to rip open yourself or to chuck on eBay ;)
You can find all our products here.
Good luck!
Panda xx

Less Cruelty More Cuddles.

"The Many Faces Of Bunny" eBay Charity Auction.

Why did we choose to donate to this charity?

I recieved a lovely email from a long term fan of Paper Panda, Laura. She works for the charity Cruelty Free International and asked me if I'd produce a tee shirt design as part of a campaign being launched in September. So I did!

All of the designs that I make that are printed on any form of merchadise are still scans of original papercuts, so these ones of our friend Bunny were used to create the tee shirt design that will be out for sale in a limited edition run along with other artists who are also taking part.

Rather than chuck them away as I often do *shame on me!* I thought they'd make a nice little study of the different faces of Bunny that a collector might pay a couple of quid for to go towards this fabulous charity.

So we have Busy Bunny, Sad Bunny, Shy Bunny, Playful Bunny & Friendly Bunny all floating over a nice blue background with the traditional 'Hand da Panda' font below each one with his respective name. It is framed in a handmade beech wood frame 31x18cm, signed on the mount and on the reverse of each Bunny and finished with the Paper Panda engraved logo.
This is a one off piece, no copies have been made, and it has raised a nice chunk of money for a fabulous charity! Hurrah!

Less cruelty, more cuddles!

100% of the final bid has been donated to Cruelty Free International, the first global non-profit to campaign to end animal tests for cosmetics worldwide.

This eBay auction raised £194.00 for Cruelty Free International *Applause*

Thank you to everyone who has placed a bid, left a comment or like of support and shared this great cause! You are all wonderful!

If you would like to read more on Cruelty Free International you can do so with this here link:
http://crueltyfreeinternational.org/

Fallen For You

Remember that lovely fallen for you cut from t'other week? Well this is the lovely lady to whom it was sent. Isn't this just lovely?..
'Good day Mrs P, my name is Gail Walker, I've been a fan of yours for a while, I bought your first paper cutting kit but didn't do to great with it, infact to say I butchered it would be kind, I was saving my pennies to get the second one, It was my birthday on Wednesday I had the best surprise ever, not only did I get an actual real life paper panda papercut cut by your fine hands but I also had a box packed full of all your super goodies including a paper cutting kit mark 2, which is awesome the knife is so much better and I actually shocked myself at how well I did this time, my fiancée Chris burnley explained what you had done with the give away and that off your own back you included all those lovely things for my birthday, thank you so very very muchly you are a really super person and I just wanted to thank you for being such a nice gal you are truly good people
=^-^=
Gail xxxxx'

Saturday night Rock n Roll Panda lifestyle...

Sometimes...just sometimes and entirely without realising a nearly perfect negative is pulled away from a papercut. It makes me smile.
Jess & Brown Bear are running together, playing in the sun. A perfectly papery moment.
I wondered why people were rummaging through my recycle bin...

It's all rock and roll at PP HQ at the weekends...It's Saturday night so I'm out and about, raving it up, socialising and...oh, who am I kidding? I'm cutting miniature woodland animals out of paper. 

This week in Pandaland.

This week in Pandaland!
We welcome Sam/Tim to the madness (top left). He made the best cake out of everyone we interviewed so got the job, hooray! Well, we also welcome Jo who starts in a few weeks as she seemed wonderfully sensible and able to sort us crazies out AND we say a big HELLO to Sonia who has been working part time here too. So we have 3 newbies in real life and also Emma who is a virtual typey person answering emails and stuff. *waves* to new panda peeps, huzzah!
We also welcomed Chewy the Lhasa Aspo, wook at his widdle faaaace! He's been so very good and distracting me from working and making me go outside in the garden and watch telly and stuff. Chewy is a great addition, we loves him.
I've been papercutting my fuzzy butt off, though and have looooads of original cuts so that it's not all quiet when I go away on Wednesday. LOADS! The Mouse Circus cuts are my favourite - the new one is just divine and those that know me know that I don't say that lightly as I am my worst critic so don't miss the mice!
This week we also lost ALL our animals (except Chewy as he wasn't here then thankfully) when the big electric gates enclosing the garden opened by themselves at 5am and they all thought it was GREAT and ran away en masse. We woke up at 8am to frantic panic, chucking on clothes and legging it outside to round up 3 cats and a moose/dog. Somebody had scooped up Munch which is no mean feat as he's 60kg of massive Malamute and they kindly locked him in the courtyard of a local shop which is where we found him asleep. PHEW! He was soaking wet and had clearly been playing in the river for hours - I wish I had Munch-cam to see what he'd gotten up to. Much relief all round as what could have been a disaster was okay after 10 minutes of panic. Oh...and the gates have now been padlocked Electric-shmetric.
This week we've donated £300 to Macmillan in total, not to mention the thousands my mate Vicky raised by cutting off her locks. Vicky and I were quite frankly blown over by the generosity of you guys.
I've also designed a tee-shirt featuring our very own Bunny for Cruelty Free International and the papercut I made to actually create the design will be going up for sale very soon and the proceeds will be donated to them also.
I've sent off the gubbins to make rubber stamps for you arty crafty people out there to make your own stuff. They feature Bunny, Bird, Squiggle and FB Hedgehog. I can see you ink stamping EVERYTHING in sight!
We also gave away a Stag papercut (is it there yet?? Shout up if so!) and it was such a hit I think we'll be doing it probably once a month, what do you reckon?
PANTS! Why are there underpants included? Well these are special magic underpants that appeared here in the house this week...and nobody knows where they came from. Unless Munch has started wearing clothes again we are proper stumped, so shout up if these are your pants! You can't have them back though as I'm wearing them. No, not really.
Oh, and I got dressed today!!!!!! Surely the most momentous occasion EVER
Panda xx

Who Owns The Stag?

Well, there are 142 of you in the running and a name has been chosen very scientifically by an 11 year old randomly pointing at the list of orders. 'The Stag' small original has now been packaged and is leaving Panda Mansion today via Special Delivery to get to the lucky recipient before 1pm tomorrow.
So, I'm not going to tell you who it is until tomorrow! All I'll say is that there's a C in the first part of the postcode (yes, it's in the UK) and a letter R in the first name. If that sounds like it could be you then you better get up in the morning if the postie knocks because you'll have to sign for your original Paper Panda papercut. We'd LOVE to see a photo of you with it.
Thanks so much to everyone who joined in. Let me know if this is something you'd like to take part in regularly, was it fun? If you weren't the winner then I do hope you like your  Stag order - thank you squillions. We think you're great.
P xxx

The Stag

Ever wanted to own a Paper Panda original? Now you can!

For the next 24 hours (until 3pm UK time on the 31st July 2014) if you purchase anything from The Stag range of merchandise you may recieve this original piece when you wake up on Friday morning (unless you're outside the UK then I'm afraid it's a bit out of our postal systems remit to be THAT quick hee hee). 
It applies to everyone from Zurich to Zimbabweeeee and there's no extra postage to pay or 'owt. At 3pm tomorrow I'll ask Poppy to choose one of your names to recieve it in with your order. There's no discrimination or minimum order - you could buy a card or a canvas, everyone is in with a chance to win.
This is a small version of The Stag design. It's been hand drawn from scratch using the same theme and basic design but is unique, no others exist like this. It is framed in a handmade beech wood box frame 13x13cm and finished with the engraved Paper Panda tag. It comes gift boxed ready to give to a loved one, to rip open yourself or to chuck on eBay ;)
You'll find our current range in the shop here: The Stag Series
Good luck!
Panda xx

I don't think we're cut out for this!

Today I...
Well today has been tough. Why? Well, yesterday we realised that Poppy's passport didn't have the required 6 months left on it that's needed to go on the cruise we are going on next week. Yes, next week. Dagnammit. It's still in date but I guess if Pops gets thrown in prison for smoking crack again (what is it with 11 year olds nowadays?) then she'd be there locked up without a passport. Or something. That IS a joke btw
So Mr Panda ran around yesterday like a man posessed getting the forms, taking Poppy for photographs in the booth in Tesco in Stow on the Wold (officially the most expensive Tesco in the country - bit of useless info for you there) then he came home, and went out again to buy a BLACK biro (it must be black, if it's not black then everybody dies) and filled in the form to try and get it sent off Special Delivery. But oh no! It needs counter signing by an upstanding pillar of the community! Do we know any? *Frantic scrabbles for upstanding pillar ensues*. All laying down on the grass in the sun. Useless.
Anyway, it didn't happen before the post went so good ol' Mr P has today driven to the passport office in Liverpool. It only took him 5 hours to get there. Bet he wishes he'd fixed the air con now, huh?
I'm left alone. Not technically alone as Kath is here packing parcels, and Sonia our temp-angel (official title) is too...and their children...but my Mr P is gone which means I am *dum dum duuum* fending for myself. With a capital F.
The last time he went away with Poppy I had Monster Munch and soup in a cup for dinner and daren't go outside for my Mr Whippy because I'd never unlocked the front door before. It's not until he leaves me alone that I find out how weirdly dependant I am (and more than a little odd, I know, I know!). It turned out that I did indeed run out for my fix, but had to call Kath back to open the door for me. Rubbish.
But hooray! Pops stayed behind and she showed Kath how to use the coffee machine AND she went to the chippy for lunch so I am, thankfully, still alive and haven't wasted away - although he isn't home yet so there's still time. Pray for me.
Although I am totally crap at life and everything that normal people do every day I CAN cut paper rather well. So I did just that...
Presenting:

"I don't think we're cut out for this!"
(Geddit??)

Circus Mouse! (Original Post 23rd July 2014)

My view this afternoon. I'm making Circus Mouse. He's going to be on a glittery strawberry and be juggling balls. Cuteness!
I'm drinking tea in my stereotypical country girl Cath Kidston mug, testing out a new coaster (coming soon!) and listening to....nothing.
Why nothing? Especially why nothing when we've just bought one of those new fangled sound stereo things - Sonos - and have speakers in the ceiling? Why am I not listening to the dulcet tones of Sia or slapping my thighs to Adam Ant (had a dream I was dating him last night, great stuff!)?? WHY?
Because I'm rubbish. I can't work the damn thing. I can't work the television either, not that I ever have time to watch it.
I long for the old days when you just popped a tape or CD into a player and...pressed play. Or throw yourself on the couch and push the 'on' button and 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5.
Now? Well now it's "no network found" and "we couldn't connect to..." and WTH is a scart cable anyway? Where do I put it? Why is the XBox involved, I don't wanna play games I want to watch Bargain Hunt! I want Tim Wannacot to beam at me and kick his leg in the air and I want it without having to change it to some weird setting after hunting for the remote, finding BBC iPlayer, resetting the internet as it's not working, entering 'B'....'A'...'R'....(half an hour later) oh, no we've seen that one...Tim in Birmingham, that's a good one...oh it's time to go back to work.
Quiet work.
Put some music on? Yes, why not. *Starts again*
"We couldn't load your library"
Oh p*^(~ *ff...!
P xx

C'mon on down to the one and only Mouse Circus where you'll find Mr Jingles/Alf and his magnificent juggling on a strawberry act *applause*
All hand drawn and cut from paper (and the balls are stuck on with spit of course!)