Papercut Design Competition

This week has been all about INSPIRATION. We ran a papercut competition in our papercrafting group https://www.facebook.com/groups/PaperPandaPapercraft/?ref=bookmarks

The brief was simple. I created a basic tree shape, and I asked for our group members to interpret it however they wish. They could add bits, take bits away, go outside the lines or resize it. The idea was for those who don't usually create their own designs to try and push their limits. But this wasnt just for novices, we asked experienced designers to push their own limits and to have fun designing something new.

The mixture of designs was incredible. There was so much imagination put into each design and choosing two winners was incredibly hard. The designs ranged from trees, to fairies, to hot air balloons, animals, buildings and much much more. Here are the two designs that me and the admin team chose as our winners :) They stood out to us for many different reasons!

The Lighthouse was designed by Amy Ponting and the Playful Cat was designed by Lisa Watson.

Please join me in congratulating them! Well done to both of you! I cannot wait to see what you come up with next!

Panda hugs xxx

Some days you just have to create your own sunshine...

Bunny was grumbling to himself, "It's been so rainy and dull recently. My ears are all damp from the wet weather, my tail is cold... it's just no fun at all." He slumped down onto the wet grass, which stained his white belly fur an odd green colour. He let out a sigh.

Bird was watching from a nearby tree. He didn't like to see Bunny unhappy and cold, but he knew that bunnies couldn't fly up into the tree branches for shelter from the weather. 

He had a plan. 

He flew out of the tree, higher, higher into the sky. He closed his eyes as he flew bravely through the thick grey cloud. As he emerged from the cloud, he opened his eyes to see a beautiful blue sky with a lovely warm sun shining down. "Mr Sun!" he tweeted loudly. The sun with his jolly smiling face looked down at Bird. "Hello there Bird", Mr Sun replied, "I'm afraid I'm not having much luck today getting through these clouds, you'll have to take a little bit of sunshine with you!" 

Mr Sun sent down some rays of warm sunlight. Bird gathered them together with some string, and they formed into a perfect miniature sun. 

As Bird carefully flew back down through the clouds, the happy little sunshine followed him. 

Bunny felt the air get warmer and brighter, and a huge smile grew on his face.

"Thank you so much, Bird! Some days you just have to create your own sunshine!"

If you place an order in the next few weeks, one of these ACEO prints might be coming to you!

Blood! Real blood! Am I going to die?!

Look! Blood! Real blood! Am I going to die?!

A real life work related injury! 'Have you had an accident at work that wasn't your fault?...Oh, Wait! It totally was my fault!'

I still didn't do it cutting!! I was opening a pack of blades! This leads me to remind you all of blade safety. Those little rascals are SHARP! PLEASE be ever so careful when you need to change your blades.

Use this handy blade removal box to remove your old blade -

Open the new packet carefully - For Example; Don't use your teeth ;)

Use some pliers or other grips to place the new blade into your handle. - Keep the on the opposite edge of the cutting edge, so you don't dull the fresh cutting surface with your scratchy grips!
Luckily it didn't get on the finished papercut, which you can see here - with my cheery smiling chops!

ACEO madness!

SO this week I'm going to talk about the wonderful world of ACEOs.

So what are ACEOs?
ACEO is an acronym that stands for Art Cards Editions and Originals. You probably have also heard the ONLY rule is the size, which is 2.5 x 3.5 inches (6.4 x 8.9 cms)
Once you have your ACEO cards ready to go its all about putting anything you like on them :) For PP that has been some of Mr P's incredible art! They have been released in sets each month for most of 2015. They have proved to be one of PP's most popular product! (Shhhh don't tell him I said this but he is a little bit amazing)

More recently I have created some ACEOs of my own, featuring the woodland friends and some wonderful sayings and quotes. If you keep an eye on the Paper Panda facebook page they will be popping up quite regularly, AND if you like what you see, we are popping an ACEO in all orders that are posted from PPHQ :D so you get the chance to grab one of these ACEOs absolutely free.

Info about the new Woodland Friends aceos....
They will never be for sale in the PP shop.
There will always be one of two designs that go into every single order that we physically post (unless we're suddenly taken ill/printer dies/you all get sick of them) that comes from PPHQ (to clarify, that's paper, blades, magnets, cards, mirrors, knives, mats, kits, keyrings, books, frames... Most things - if you're unsure just ask admin).
No minimum order amount.
If it's forgotten then blame Nanny P for falling asleep at the desk again and ask for another extra in your next order.
The two designs will be changed for a fresh two every couple of weeks.
You won't be notified of the change.
You can sell, swop or keep them, it's up to you!
Once a design is gone then it's gone.
You'll see then pop up on the page first, unless I hate it then it'll be an aceo at some point.
They are all prints but are hand signed.
They only started going into every order from yesterday (6th).
Um, I hope you like them!

Make Your Own Keyrings!

We have some spiffy new heart shaped keyrings to display papercuts in, and I thought it would be nice to actually design some templates for them too...at 8 designs for just £1, they're bargain-tastic! I'm good to you ;)

For just £1 you get 8 little templates -

Blank heart

Daughter

Mum

'Wedding Bunnies'

Home is where the heart is

Key to my heart

I love you

I love my cat

You can use these however you like, they don't have to be keyrings!

They also have a commercial licence option so you can sell your creations if you wish.

 http://www.paperpandacuts.co.uk/kits-diy-c35/diy-templates-personal-c49/paper-panda-papercut-diy-design-template-heart-designs-to-fit-blank-keyrings-p399

wink emoticon

Blue Cross Burford Rehoming Centre.

We popped a 'little' event up to help raise as much money as possible for the Blue Cross for Pets in lieu of Christmas gifts for me. To help the animals have a good Christmas and more is all the presents I need! Well... along with a few little fund raising pots throughout the year We raised almost £4000 for the Blue Cross Burford Rehoming Centre thanks to you super generous people!



You can still donate to the lovely guys if you wish, they do lots of fabulous work and a few of my furbabies are from there too! Perfect!

 https://www.justgiving.com/PaperPanda/

Heading into 2016

So WOW, another year over! Again how fast has that last year gone? Nuts! We acheived so much this last year, and rode the rollercoaster of life to some amazing highs and some awful lows, but we have come through together and that is all that matters! But enough of thinking about the past, let's look ahead to the future :D Thinking about the year ahead,  I have to say I'm a little excited to see what it may have instore not just for me, but PP as a whole :) We're going to make 2016 bigger and better than ever, new ideas, new products and new giveaways! Eek! I really don't think I could be more excited!!! Can't wait to get started on PP's best year yet!!

I only made one New Years resolution this year and it is to stop using exclamation marks. (It is really REALLY hard) I have probably written this 4 times and still wrote about fifty haha, but this last blog doesn't count :P So seen as though mine already isn't going so well here are a few of the other members of PP's resolutions:

Vicky - 'Mine is the usual, try to be healthier! And get more tattoos!'
Julie - 'My only resolution is to stop resolving to lose weight year on year, and to embrace the extra fat and enjoy my curry.'
Emily - 'My plan is to save more money and move my ass more.'
Sonia - 'Mine would be to take the same care for myself as I do for my family, and take a course or two on Play Therapy so I can improve the quallity of my Lego based therapy group.'
Dan - 'Mine is to let go and relax more, worry less about the little things and to spend more time with my kids.'

So here I am going to finish with a huge thank you to each and every one of you! Thank you for the support through the tough times, your love through the good times and for being there for me and PP!! Wishing you all an incredible 2016! Let's see what it brings :D xxxx

stars&scars collaboration!

Ooh, another collaboration! 

This time, Admin Vicky has been busy, scribbling away to make these unique Paper Panda necklaces! 

There's two designs to choose from - Floral Bunnies has a pretty intricate pattern, and I Love Papercutting has a quirky typographic style. 
They're not printed or stamped or anything, just drawn by hand with nothing more than a pen, then hand cut and assembled.
Pretty special!
http://www.paperpandacuts.co.uk/search/jewellery

Collaboration with Odd Hearts!

This week we unveiled this stunning collaboration piece!

Cassiopeia is a unique collaboration piece between Paper Panda & Odd Hearts depicting a girl with the whole universe at her fingertips.

This is an enchanting new design, featuring a hand drawn Paper Panda original piece, cut by hand with a scalpel from a single sheet of black paper.

The piece also features a pretty floating painted orb of space by Odd Hearts.

It is signed and dated on the reverse.

The piece is suspended over pale background creating stunning shadows inside the handmade beech wood box frame.

Edition: 1/1
Size: 23 x 23 cm

The piece is available on eBay until 12/12/15
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/161910845443?

Baby's First Christmas Winner!

On Sunday we popped a giveaway up to win this here merry papercut, made with my own Panda paws.

Crikey! So many of you entered for the chance to own this festive little original, sadly there can only be one! So without further ado...

The winner is...*drumroll please* 

Deniece Burton

*applause*

Please keep your eyes peeled for your postie Deniece, as this original is winging it's way to special delivery as we speak! Huzzah!

A HUGE thank you to all of you that entered! If you didn't win this time, why not pop over and check out the template in the online store here.

P xx

Have yourself a merry little...Winner! :P

  On Monday we popped a giveaway up to win this here festive papercut,

made with my own Panda paws.

Wowee! So many of you entered for the chance to own this merry little original, sadly there can only be one! Without further ado...

The winner is...*drumroll please* 

Nicki Scarborough!

*applause*

Please keep your eyes peeled for your postie Nicki, as this original is winging it's way to special delivery as we speak! Huzzah!

A HUGE thank you to all of you that entered! If you didn't win this time, why not pop over and check out the template in the online store here.

P xx

Christmas for Blue Cross!

Every year I get lots of gorgeous treats & pressies sent to me for Christmas, which is super lovely and I am ever so grateful, but I really am just running out of space to keep all my pretties *first world problems*! Well so Mr P says. *Carefully leans past goodies to reach Coke*

So this year we have a super spiffing idea to make Christmas special and you don't need to send me a present at all, that's right, send all the presents to The Emily!
Just kidding, obv. We are hoping to raise many pennies for Blue Cross animal charity. We have already raised over £1000 this year and there's more to come, hooray! All my friends and family are joining in and now, if you'd like to, then you can too!

So instead of sending me that lovely gift, you can donate it to our auction event. That way someone can buy a lovely present for their friends & family AND I get a lovely present, because you've helped the furbabies! Huzzah! It really is the best possible present I can receive knowing that we are helping the animals.

There are some really beautiful offerings from a large stunning quilled pieced by Cut By Hand (our very own lovely Carla Bagshaw), my own Deans Ragdoll panda limited edition bear with a drawn aceo of the Woodland Friends of your choice, paper flowers by Samaflora, Embroidered hoops from Crafts Outrageous and many more simple wonderful things! So just buy bidding or buying you'll be helping the animals this Christmas.

Hope to see you there!

P xx (and The Emily - can you tell what part she wrote? ;) )

And the winner is...

Hello!


On Saturday we popped a giveaway up to win this here 'spooky' papercut, made with my own Panda paws.

Wowee! So many of you entered for the chance to own this spooktacular original, sadly there can only be one! Without further ado...

The winner is...*drumroll please* 

Lorraine Greaves
in

Nottinghamhire

*applause*

Please keep your eyes peeled for your postie tomorrow, Lorraine, as this original is winging it's way to special delivery as we speak! Huzzah!

A HUGE thank you to all of you that entered! If you didn't win this time, why not pop over and check out the template in the online store here.

P xx

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like... Papercutting!

So, I mustered up some Christmas spirit this week (bah, humbug, it's only October) and made up some templates for baubles! 

These will fit in those nifty clear balls that you can fill with things - glitter, snow, papercuts... or you can just frame them for your wall. 

Also, perfect personalised gifts for Aunt Joy and Uncle Noel ;)

http://paperpanda.bigcartel.com/product/papercut-diy-design-template-christmas-baubles

There's also a huge bumper pack available with 12 sheets of designs for just £5 - and they all have commercial licences! Doesn't get much better than that, right? :)
These were originally available in the Craftseller magazine, but it's much easier just to print out a file, than scan a magazine!

http://paperpanda.bigcartel.com/product/papercut-diy-design-template-12-page-bumper-pack

Templates templates everywhere!

This week we have seen 2 of our most popular templates released, firstly was the Woodland Friends do Halloween template which you all went crazy for! It's a lovely little template, I love creating fun little scenes for our favourite characters to interact with :) From your lovely suggestions this template was born :)

"BOO! What do you think of my Halloween costume, Finn?" asked Bunny.
"WAHH!" replied FBH. "A spooky ghost!" He jumped so hard that his bucket of sweeties went flying everywhere. "Oh Bunny, I was so spooked I almost rolled up into a ball! And now my sweets are all over the floor." he sighed.
"Sorry Finn," replied Bunny, "I'll help you pick them up. Let's go Trick or Treating to get some more!"

The second and most popular template for a long while has been the new Surprise template for October :) There's no pictures at this time as we are hoping to keep this one a secret for as long as possible :) But it is a little special and by your reaction on of your favourites :) It was so popular we managed to break the internet! I don't have a Kim Kardashian Bum, but I have a Finn Biddybum and that's even better!

And here is everyone's favourite little cake muncher staring in awe at his cake mountain! :) This colouring sheet is a dual use one, as some of you have cut this little beauty! All those lines :O But oh so fun!!
http://www.paperpanda.bigcartel.com/product/hibernation-colouring-page

All these templates are available now on our website :)

http://www.paperpanda.bigcartel.com/

Papercut of the week!

Are you a member of our lovely (not so) little cutting community group on Facebook? 

We have a little over 11 thousand members now! Amazing! 

It's a great place to share your papercutting & paper crafts, but it's also a nice place for advice and questions! We have a nice mix of posts from papercuts, templates and questions - to stories, sharing and pictures of cake! Hooray! ;) 

Each week we also choose a papercut of the week, the winner receives a voucher for our online store. Plenty of reason to get sharing your lovely work! 

You can find our group here - https://www.facebook.com/groups/513251748818589/

 
Here's a few of our past winners! 

Hope to see you there soon! Congrats to all the winners so far! Will you be the next Papercut of the week? We'll have to see next Friday, eh? ;)
 

Hello October!

Wow can you believe it's October already?! Seems like the year has flown by!

It's been a busy time a PP HQ - just look at all this post! Is one of these winging it's way to you this week?! Time to stalk that postie! ;) 

Thank you so much for all of your orders, your little notes are great and we read every one! We especially like the jokes!

 The other day Mr P was singing the orders as he went along..

'Oooh Irene McDonald had a faaarm and a 21 pack of poster paaaaper'...

It went on like this for a while, I think delirium may have set in, send cake! :P 

Here's a few random behind scenes snaps this week!

Yes that is Nanny P and Yes she did make that clipboard herself! ;)
 Plus just look at the size of buddy's feet! Maybe he's part rabbit!?

Anyway, the best news of the week?
We are off to Amsterdam for a few days of doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!!
See you on Monday! Nanny P, Sonia & Julie will be packing your orders so say hello to them in your notes :) Cheerio!! P Xxx

Templates ahoy!

If you're into templates, you had a treat this week!
First up was 'You are my sun, my moon and all my stars', a swirly-whirly typographical extravaganza.

http://paperpanda.bigcartel.com/product/papercut-diy-design-template-you-are-my-sun

Then we had the September Surprise template, which obviously I can't tell you more about, but it's a cute one, featuring a new character! 

It's only £1, so it's definitely worth a look.

http://paperpanda.bigcartel.com/product/papercut-diy-design-template-surprise-template-september

Then finally, we had our very first colouring sheet!

I'm really proud of this one, because it was something I never thought I could do. I hope you love it as much as I do.

http://paperpanda.bigcartel.com/product/happy-clouds-colouring-page

Shiny shiny!

Remember when you were a kid and you bought the packs of stickers for your favourite football team / game / film / TV show / boyband? (I collected the Gladiators, Lion King and Sonic ones! - Admin Vicky)
Well, do you remember there were always 'shinys'... ones that stood out from the rest by being metallic or holographic, and they were definitely worth at least 5 'normals'!
These prints are the equivalent of the shiny stickers ;)

These beautiful luxury foil prints are truly stunning! 
The foil shines brightly and really stands out from the background, the effect has to be seen to be believed.

Available in 7 styles, with different colours too.

Stunning!

Right, back to my happy place now! xx

Talented Admin and Busy Busy Busy Panda Team!

So, last week some of you eagle eyed folks noticed the new section in the store - Team Panda Makes. This will be full of things made by members of the team, keep your eyes peeled on that for some fun new things in the future.

These little bits of space were painted by 'The Emily' of admin fame. Each depicted it's own unique night sky scenery, with pretty colourful auroras, meteors and a multitude of tiny stars.

Good luck if you managed to snag one, they sold out pretty fast! 

I'm pretty sure she will be painting some more at some point... but it's Admin Vicky's turn next... :D

We have had some a busy days and nights here at PPHQ, packing up all your lovely orders! 

Cake, coke and retro fizzy sweets saw us through, plus my glamorous assistant, Mr P.

He's a star :)

And like a lot of you, I'm sure, it was my children's first day back at school this week.

I remember Poppy when it was her first day at junior school when she looked so tiny and not big enough to fill her uniform. Aww!

I figured it could also be Bunny's first day as a parent taking his little one to school. Rabbits only have to wear ties though ;)

Have a fabulous week, Pandinos! :D x

Positive Positivity

Positive Positivity :)

This week has been a brilliant week :) Woke up early every morning ready and raring to go! Eek, this getting up early lark is really quite invigorating! :) But do have to admit it is tiring, but the sense of accomplishment is worth all the hard work :) Looking forward to the Autumn period, have some great things planned for PP and of course the run up to (shhhhh don't tell anyone I said this word this early) Christmas!
Having such a positive attitude this week I wish to share it with you all! So I challenge you all each day to do something positive and hold that positivity all day! Don't let it go!

On that positive note, do you know what week it is?? It's new ACEO week!! I know I say this almost every month, but I do think this months set is my favourite set so far! There is something for everyone. A rockstar rabbit, dragons, giraffes, fairies and a flamingo!!! Remember, this set is available for just 1 month and each one comes hand signed on the back by the wonderful Mr P himself.

These also fit wonderfully in our handmade ACEO frames! So don't miss out get yours now xx

Panda hugs and Panda snogs! xxx

Tiny Tuesday!

So, I've only just managed to catch my breath after Tiny Tuesday!
Some of the cuts sold in record time, thank you so much to everyone who bought one, and commiserations if you weren't lucky this time, it will happen for you one day!

Also, the new August Surprise template has just gone live, sorry it's late, I've been poorly sick and supposed to be resting... like I can ever shut off ;)

I think you'll like it though. It's a sweet one.

Speaking of resting, I'd better follow Doctor's orders and go for a lie down... wait, let me just cut this one last thing...