Let's go Glam!!

It's the last day of the month and pretty soon December's going to start - the month of parties, evenings out and of course celebrations. So in anticipation I made a couple of glamorous cards and wanted to share them with you.

I made this one using a pearl red card stock overlay with a black glitter foam as the base. I added a gorgeous white knot using some satin ribbon and the roses are all from white card stock which I distressed using some red ink. The pearl strip at the top and bottom was the final touch. 

For this one I started with this gorgeous background from the DCDW Nursery Baby Matstack and added glitter strips, ItsyBitsy roses and a butterfly as embellishments. Love the bling!

Here are the supplies I used. And don't forget today's the last day to submit your entry for the KISS challenge. I just loved browsing through the submissions and looking forward to browsing through some more!

Black Glitter Foam Sheet

Glitter Flutter Butterfly

Stripy White Card Stock

Kaisercraft Pearls

Hot Pink Pearl Card Stock

Pink Rhinestones

Red Pearl Card Stock

Brides Wish Open Rose

White Satin Ribbon

Nursery Baby Matstack

Pink Glitter Strips

Keep it Sweet and Simple for Christmas

A number of you dear blogger friends have made Christmas cards for our KISS challenge and I gotta say, it got me all pumped up to get started on mine. Here are a few of my creations. Have tried to keep them simple but it's really quite a challenge for me at least. 

I guess you could say that I'm a big fan of red bows! Ha Ha - just realized I put them in every card. The wreath in the third card is a digi that I fussy cut and colored and don't you just love the tiny rhinestones in my last card? Here are some of the supplies used, the rest are from my stash.

Crimson Red Card Stock

Grass Green Card Stock

Navy Blue Card Stock

Red Satin Ribbon

Christmas Glitter Strips

Garden Flowers Embossing Folder

Red Crystal Stones

How to use the Accessory Cutting Pad with your ItsyBitsy Dies

A lot of queries came in asking for some tips on how to use the ItsyBitsy Accessory Cutting pad with your ItsyBitsy Dies. So this is a post dedicated to the topic.

The ItsyBitsy Cutting pad is priced at just Rs. 59 and is a great way to make your die cutting machine sandwich sufficiently thick to bring out the beautiful embossing details available on some of the ItsyBitsy Thin Cuts Dies. The cutting pad comes with 10 sheets of thin plastic - similar to OHP transparencies. Depending on the thickness of your paper or card stock and you can decide the number of cutting pad sheets you would require to send the sandwich through your Big Shot or Cuttlebug. Bear in mind, you want it to be thick enough to bring out the embossing details but not so thick that it destroys your machine. Never force it, and only you can be the judge of it. 

I have made a video demonstrating how to use the cutting pad and the resultant effect. It's also available on our YouTube Channel. Subscribe today if you haven't already done so as we are constantly updating it with fresh and new tutorials and demonstrations.

Here are the Thin Cuts dies that that contain embossing details within them. For most of them, the outline has the cut edge and the inner designs can be embossed on the card. 

The accessory cutting pad can be used with the Spellbinder dies as well and good news, these too are now available at ItsyBitsy. 

It's Candy Time Again!

I recently mentioned that we were rolling out monthly candy to give a chance to all our crafter friends to win some ItsyBitsy goodies. So here is the first in the series! An awesome stamping bundle from We R Memory Keepers containing all the alphabets, each in 4 different fonts. I personally feel that alphabet stamps are a must-have in any crafter's drawer as they allow you tremendous versatility while etching out sentiments or headings. The total value of this hamper is Rs. 2574 and of course we will send it to you free!

So here's what you need to do to win the candy:

1. Be a follower of our blog.
2. Add your name to the Mr Linky below with a link back to your blog.
3. Put this badge up on the sidebar of your blog with a link back to this blog post.
4. Ensure your shipping address is in India. (We would like very much to ship internationally but sadly Indian customs made it extremely difficult the last couple of times we tried it).

If you don't have a blog, it's time you created one as that's the only way you can win this candy. Its free and simple to do so just click on blogger.com and get started.

You have 1 month to participate in ItsyBitsy Monthly Candy - Stamping Bundle. We will randomly select a winner on  21st December 2012. And thank you all our dear blogger friends for your  extraordinary support for our Diwali sale. All of you who placed our banner and badge on your blog will get 5 additional chances to win this candy!

Good Luck and Happy Crafting!

5 Super Great Reasons to Shop with ItsyBitsy

Folks I wanted to dedicate a post to the subject because I have been scouring the craft communities and supply sources and found that ItsyBitsy really stands apart as a craft retailer. Some of you may already be aware of this but for the others, I am sure you will be blown away!

1. Oops I Forgot Something!!

Have you ever placed an order and the next day realized you had forgotten something? You don't want to place another order and get stuck with additional shipping costs. No problem! Just place your second order and choose 'Store Pick-up' for delivery. Then in the comment box drop a line saying, 'Please ship this along with my previous order (and mention your previous order number). Of course if you realize after 2 or 3 days, chances are we've already shipped your order in which case this option may not be possible.

2. Free Shipping over Rs. 1500

Is there any other craft supplier offering free shipping over just Rs. 1500? Not that I know of. I don't know about you but I HATE getting saddled with shipping charges. Thankfully ItsyBitsy offers this feature! 

3. Over 10,000 products
I'm not kidding. ItsyBitsy literally stocks more than 10,000 items and not just for paper crafting but for multiple hobbies. The range for jewelry making is incomparable and art supplies are definitive. General craft items too! I literally go nuts searching for stuff coz it takes more than a week to explore the entire site.

4. ItsyBitsy is so Affordable!
It's true - the bulk of ItsyBitsy merchandize is Indian made and far more affordable that the alternatives. For example the embossing folders and dies are top notch and so economically priced. Where else can you get cutting dies for Rs. 200. They've just launched this accessory cutting pad that works wonders for embossing dies which is just Rs. 59 as compared to the alternative Spellbinders version - Rs. 750.

5. Socially Conscious
I think this is the best thing about ItsyBitsy. Bulk of their items are made by rural women thereby providing much needed employment and empowerment to this segment of society.

Isn't it fantastic! I wanted to spread the word and look forward to you spreading the love!

The ItsyBitsy Diwali Sale

Folks its the festive season and we're offering massive discounts on all our merchandize storewide. You will find products up to 80% off and everything is at least 10% off. It's a great time to stock up on craft supplies and the timing is perfect too - we're right bang in the middle of the festive season!

Now we're looking to you, our dear blogger friends to support us during this huge Dhamaka sale. We would love it if you added this banner to the top of your blogs with a link back to this page. 

Or you can add this badge to your blog side bar with a link back to this page.

Since the sale ends on 15th November, the banner and badge needs to be up only till then. And to show our appreciation, here's what we have for you. We will shortly be rolling out monthly candy similar to the 100 followers candy. If you place the banner on the top of your blog, we will give you 5 additional entries to win the candy. And if you place the badge on your blog side bar, we will give you 1 additional entry to win the candy. Remember to leave a comment telling us what you've done with your blog link.

However you support us, we truly appreciate it. We are your craft supply store and this Diwali sale is for YOU! So spread the word around and make our day!!

Winners of the ItsyBitsy Make it Dimensional Challenge

After great deliberation and evaluation, we were finally able to decide the winners and finalists for the ItsyBitsy Make it Dimensional Challenge. We had 95 stupendous entries and needless to say it was next to impossible to narrow it down to 2 winners. But we managed it and without further delay, here you go!

Congratulations to Tejal and Isha Tripathi. Both these talented ladies made side step cards which have totally blown us away!! Although the style of cards was similar they were starkly different in their final result. While Tejal's was fun, vibrant and cheerful, Isha's was intricate, ornate and so pretty. Congrats to both of you for your truly well deserved wins!

And now on to the finalists. The process of selection starts with us selecting the ones we liked the most. Usually that's about 20 submissions. They we start narrowing it down to the best 8. From these we select the winning 2 and the remaining 6 are the finalists. This time around, we are issuing badges to the finalists as well because we believe it's a might big feat to top the work 87 other contestants!! Kudos to you all!

We loved Bhavana Kesarkar's crimped flowers card which was so calming and pleasing to the eye.

We loved that Bipasha drew and colored the bird herself on this extremely creative card - Lovely!

We loved Saumya Mohanty's take on pattern paper on a red MDF wall shelf thingy - Awesome!

We loved Khushboo's quad easel card - how cheerful, bright and so very neat!

We loved Syaz awesome quilled cakes - these were a work of art!

And we loved Priya Sondhi's monochromatic card set - Wow! How gorgeous are these!

So that's it. 2 new craft queens have been crowned and the courtiers revealed! Well done to all. Winners please write in to info@itsybitsy.in to obtain your voucher and winning badge.
Finalists please write in to info@itsybitsy.in to obtain your finalist badge.

Looking forward to many more great entries in our KISS challenge. Till then Happy Crafting Folks!

The ItsyBitsy K-I-S-S Challenge

Folks we had a super response to our 'Make it Dimensional' Challenge - 95 entries! That's sure to be record. Super submissions, outstanding creativity and stellar designs were the order of the day. The results will be out very soon, so stay tuned.

Now on to our challenge for November. I'm sure you're totally intrigued after reading the title. Yes it's the K-I-S-S challenge - Keep It Sweet & Simple! I honestly think it is more difficult to make something wonderful whilst retaining its simplicity so here's an opportunity to truly unleash your creativity. No fancy folds, no fancy embellishments, no fancy technique. And may this card serve as inspiration as well as a guideline. 

As you can see I've kept it fairly simple. The only flourish is the punched border on the top and bottom and the 'Ginormous' bow. It took about 30 minutes to make and my husband says its my best work yet. I resisted the urge to grumble to myself 'Men - what do they know' but had to acknowledge that it is pretty nice - without too much drama. 

So here are your challenge guidelines:

• You can make anything you like as long as you K-I-S-S - Keep it Simple & Sweet. The key is to create beauty from simplicity.
• If we feel something doesn't quite fit our guideline, we will write to you privately and let you know.
• The contest closes at midnight on 30th November 2012.
• In order to submit your entry, click on the inlinkz button provided at the bottom of this page, add your image and link to your blog post containing the submission.
• Each participant can submit a maximum of 3 entries. 
• Participants can withdraw entries at any time before the contest closes by deleting their own submission.
• Backlinking to old projects is not permitted. All submissions have to be created after 2nd November 2012.
• In your blog post, create a link back to this page - The ItsyBitsy K-I-S-S Challenge.
• 2 winners will be selected and will receive a voucher of Rs. 1000 each, redeemable online at www.itsybitsy.in.
• In addition 6 finalists will be selected all of whom will receive a badge to display on their blog. 

We're really looking forward to seeing what you come up with. It's certainly not easy but then where's the fun in easy right? Have a great month folks and watch out for the results of the previous challenge!