Challenges and Templates!

So, the Panda Challenge last week was to make a design to the brief, "Hello, my name is...", there were so many great entries, thanks to everyone who sent work in! These were my favourites.

Kimmie made a beautiful self portrait using a combination of hand drawing and digital techniques, while Andrea made a striking papercut combined with a lovely poem. 

Here's Andrea's poem - 

Hello, my name is Mum,
I fulfil their every need.
I kiss them when they hurt themselves,
I always clothe and feed.

Hello, my name is wife,
A lover and a friend.
Go through our life together,
On each other we depend.

Hello, my name is daughter,
And granddaughter too.
My family have raised me, 
To do the things I do.

Hello, my name is organist,
On the day of rest.
Praises to our Lord,
Dressed in our Sunday best.

Hello, my name is trombonist,
I entertain and play.
People sing and dance to me,
Throughout the night and day.

Hello, my name is conductor,
I lead them from the score.
We play at many concerts,
People shout "encore encore!"

Hello, my name is papercutter,
I cut paper with a knife.
Sitting quietly at my desk,
My little escape from life.

Hello, my name is Andrea,
And now all you have is me.
Strip away all my 'names',
And this is what you see.

Underneath the busy life,
We often do neglect.
To think about all those things,
That begin to take effect.

So, take a look beyond your names,
And reach deep inside.
All your fears and worries,
You shouldn't have to hide.

Hello, my name is Andrea,
Mum, daughter, wife.
Teacher, musician, papercutter,
This is my happy life.

 

**NEWSFLASH**

The custom option Floral Frame template is now available! Huzzah! 
We can add any wording of your choosing to the design; we can fit a maximum of 12-15 words over 6 lines of text. Please chose the 'Custom' option in the dropdown menu and add your chosen wording to the 'notes' box at checkout. If we are unable to fit your chosen words/quote we will email you.
http://www.paperpanda.bigcartel.com/product/custom-papercut-diy-design-template-floral-frame

 What's that, another new template?!

http://www.paperpanda.bigcartel.com/product/papercut-diy-design-template-house

Surely not a third template?! I have been busy this week ;)
http://www.paperpanda.bigcartel.com/product/papercut-diy-design-template-i-love-you-so-very-much

Exciting times!

I had some exciting news from a Panda fan this week, my book was number 10 in the Amazon New Releases chart! I just couldn't believe it, thank you so much to everyone who's pre-ordered. You'll get your book in March. If you've not got yours yet, you can get it at this link. I'm 16 on the New Releases chart now... can we get back in the top ten?! http://www.amazon.co.uk/Papercuts-Twenty-Louise-Firchau-Paper/dp/1782211918/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420804105&sr=8-1&keywords=louise+firchau

It's time once again for another super smashing faaaaabulous Panda Challenge!!
The brief for this week's challenge is rather vague and mysterious - please feel free to interpret it as you wish and use any medium(s) you choose to create your entry. Are you ready for it...?

Panda Challenge Brief:
'Hello, my name is....'

Goodies *may* be sent out to the creators of the most interesting and artistic interpretations of the brief. wink emoticon
Everybody is welcome to take part. Entries are to be posted on the main PP wall on Sunday 18th January (please don't post them before this date as they won't be included in the challenge). 

After a crazy busy weekend and the general kind of non-stop mostly nocturnal life I've been living recently we've decided to have a bed day. Bed day is nice. It involves my favourite spotty onesie, no make-up (arrgh my eeeeyes!), a Marian Keyes book, Country Living magazine, Buddy the kitten (giving the camera his very best sleazy 'I'm a teenager, stop kissing me, mum' look) lots of tea, unopened cartons of orange juice (sneaks Coke upstairs) 8 pillows and Scrabble on my phone.
Recharge day WIN!

Who's ready for a new template?! wink emoticon 

This pretty A4 floral frame is ready to go right now. With 20 ready made options, including 'Happy Birthday', 'this too shall pass', 'there's no place like home' and even just the frame - perfect for popping over a photo for a unique little gift.

The custom option will be added next week, along with more ready made quotes soon! 

http://www.paperpanda.bigcartel.com/product/custom-papercut-diy-design-template-floral-frame

It's been a busy old week.... *phew*... nipping off to Amsterdam for a relaxing weekend away! Ta-ra!

What a busy (and exciting) week we've had!!

We've been super busy this week at PPHQ.  I’ve been busily posting your lovely orders because TimSam has deserted us and swanned off on his holibobs *wahhhhh, takes away holiday entitlement*. I haven’t half missed him, but don’t tell him I said that, he’ll get all big headed and start making diva-ish demands like having his water chilled to 21 degrees or some such.

I've had some very exciting post! My book preview turned up and I think it's just spiffing!! Have you pre-ordered yours yet? If not you can snap it up from here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Papercuts-Twenty-Louise-Firchau-Paper/dp/1782211918/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420804105&sr=8-1&keywords=louise+firchau

We've also had loads of new paper cuts, including something a little bit new and a little bit special. I spent Monday cutting a good old fashioned fairy complete with a rainbow, hearts and glitter! I went all girly on you! Plus there were some glorious Woodland animals cuts such as 'Home', which features Bird dreaming his little birdy dreams in his nest and 'Squirrel Tree' which shows a squirrel frolicking high up in the trees. Then there was some things for you pet lovers in the form of 'Friends' which features a cat about head duff a small boy. 

Something that's excited me greatly this week was the long awaited (by me) magic cards!!! I love these! You write a little message on the middle balloon (see the pictures) then stick a magic sticker over the top and send it off to a loved one, they can then scratch off the sticker to reveal all your lovliness!

I don't think I've missed anything... I hope you've all had a fantastic week?

Hello!! New things! Yay!

All of these gorgeous originals have graced the online shop this week. You can pop through and see if your favourite is still available here.
Psst* There may be a Tiny Profanity too if you're quick! ;)

In addition to all these spangly new originals, I have been using this fancy-pants new camera holder means there will be more filming. Which means more videos like this one. Huzzah!

You'll be able to watch these Panda paws in action, drawing & cutting lots of different things and singing along to the odd song too. Win!

You can find us on YouTube here, to see these new spangly vids, along with some other ones.

Enjoy!

We have some awesome products in the pipeline, so keep your eyes peeled and check our  Facebook and Twitter feeds for the most up to date news!
You can also sign up for our monthly newsletter for more news, offers and tidbits straight from PP HQ! Just pop over and sign up here.

Hello 2015!

So, welcome to 2015!

We have a new button near the top of our Facebook page that says 'LiveChat with us' - funnily enough, it does exactly what it says on the tin. You can chat with a member of the PP admin team live at pretty much any time from 9am until 10pm. So that's pretty exciting! 

Can you believe it's been a year since 'The Stag' went up for sale! This amazing piece spawned a whole raft of items from keyrings to mugs to mirrors and became an iconic image of Paper Panda.

First cut of the year and yes, I wrote 14 instead of 15 (the little illegible scribble at the bottom right is actually my initials LF and the year it was made). I wonder how many weeks it'll take me to get out of this habit? *gets rubber*

Hope you all had a cracking Christmas and New Year!

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.