22nd January Challenge

Today Julie's challenge is 'Do you remember Sesame Street? How they'd always do "Brought to you by the letter___" at the end of the show?

I'm sort of channeling that for this month's challenge. Do a layout 'brought to you' by whichever one of the 26 that tickles your fancy. It could be the layout content, title...whatever you want, just so there's a focus on one letter.'

Here's Julie's layout:

I went with I is for Ian. :) 

I used the biggest chipboard "I" I had in my drawer...misted it, and then used some Goosebumps Shimmer Texture Spray, for a fun finish.

Jules:

Loved this challenge! There was only one letter I could use, which I incorporated into the title.

Tessa:

I loved this challenge and have mentally bookmarked it for future reference - so many possibilities! I decided to focus on the letter "U" as a play on words.

Anna:

I printed off words to do with the sea all beginning with S.

Valerie:

This was a fun challenge and I had a hard time narrowing down my subject. I'm definitely inspired to make a few more layouts thanks to this prompt!

We look forward to seeing all your letter inspired layouts, link them up!

December Challenge Winner

Jules here, just popping in to announce the winner of the December challenges.

And the winner is......Karen Williams!

Congratulations Karen! Drop me an email with your details (scrappingmojodesigns@gmail.com) and I'll get your prize package out to you :D

Jan 8th Challenge!

Hi everyone! Happy new year to you all!

Today's challenge comes from the lovely Julie Jacob...

Scrap a page using 5 or more photos!

And here are your inspirational layouts from the DT:

Juls

I found this challenge quite hard, as I don't often scrap with multiple photos - two is normally my maximum! I decided to keep them quite small, and very similar so it didn't feel too overwhelming. I also used black and white photos so they stand out against the colours in the rest of the layout.

Julie
 



 
This was a tough one for me...but a good challenge. I was shooting for 5 and ended up with 6! :)


Anna

This is a great challenge for when you have lots of photos from one day or time.


Valerie
 

 
I find the easiest way to get a lot of photos on a single page layout is to print them small. Wallet sized photos are great for overview pages - like this one that will start the 'Halloween 2011' section of my scrapbook.

And our prize for January is a $30 gift certificate to The Hen's Den store! Thank you for the generous prize :)

To enter, just link up your take on either of our January challenges (the next one goes live on 22nd) in the comments section of the challenge post. Can't wait to see everyone's entries!

December 18th Challenge

We've got a nice easy challenge this week that should hopefully provide some inspiration for those of us still shopping for Christmas presents! 

Create a layout about the best present you've either given or received

Anna

One of the most memorable presents I was given was this dolly and cot when I was 6, I loved it so much! It doesn't have to be the biggest presents that mean the most.

Julie

Christmas 2007, we surprised our two daughters with a trip to London & Paris with me, my niece & great-niece. So 5 girls on a big trip in February of '08! :) They were SO surprised, and we had a wonderful time...lots of good memories. :)

I will never forget the looks on their faces when they realized where we were going.

Valerie

The best gift I ever received was the item that came in this little blue box with the red ribbon tied around it:

It contained my engagement ring from my husband. It feels like it was just yesterday but it was so long ago. On the page I call it 'the gift that changed everything' because it really did. Christmas was never the same after I opened that box and said yes.

Jules

Last year my husband completely surprised me with a DSLR, it was completely unexpected and such a thoughtful gift - he's definitely a keeper! 

This month's sponsor is The Scrapbook Garden, an online scrapbooking store based here in the UK. Ann, the owner, has donated a fabulous Christmas kit full of papers, alphas and embellishments ready for your Christmas layouts!

To be in the running, simply create a layout that satisfies the challenge, post it on your blog or in a gallery, and leave a direct link to your layout in the comments below. Happy scrapping!

December 4th Challenge

Happy December! Jules here with your challenges for this month. 
I love this time of year, as I love all of the Christmas collections that the different manufacturers bring out, but I have to admit that I'm struggling to justify buying any new stash, as I've still got loads from last year! I know I'm never going to use it all for scrapping Christmas photos, so today's challenge is to use up all that old Christmas stash in different ways. 
Use your Christmas themed stash to create a non-themed, everyday layout
Anna:

I used Echo Park's, Everyone loves Christmas papers for this layout of my nephew and his love of bugs!

Tessa:

I focused on finding a Christmas line with non-traditional colors and decided on this sheet of patterned paper from Cosmo Cricket's Mitten Weather line. The lavender color was fun to pull out in complimentary embellishments and I added navy blue to the palette to tie in better with my photos.

Valerie:

Fortunately, holiday lines usually have lots of brown and green - making it 'not too difficult' to use them for non-holiday projects. For my page I used SEI holiday collections:Christmas Mint (the brown paper) and Kris Kringle (the green). I added some less-Christmasy elements to reinforce my story.

Jules:

I also used Echo Park for my layout, but I chose the 'Merry Christmas' line. I also managed to break into the Tim Holtz tissue tape that I've been saving for 'just the right project'!

This month's sponsor is The Scrapbook Garden, an online scrapbooking store based here in the UK. Ann, the owner, has donated a fabulous Christmas kit full of papers, alphas and embellishments ready for your Christmas layouts!

To be in the running, simply create a layout that satisfies the challenge, post it on your blog or in a gallery, and leave a direct link to your layout in the comments below. Happy scrapping!

November 20th Challenge

Tessa here again, ready with the next challenge! Around this time of year, many people wax poetic about being thankful for their blessings. Your challenge is to create a layout about something you are grateful for. However, rather than the typical answers of family and health, you must choose something superficial, silly, or something you could easily live without. 

Ready to see what the design team is grateful for?

Julie

Such a little, silly thing...but I love my Starbucks hot chocolate. (If you can still call it hot at 140 degrees!) And like I wrote, I love that they know what I want before I even say anything. :) It helps that I order the same thing every time. ;)

Valerie

It seems like such a small, frivolous thing but it's almost like a security blanket for me; my favorite brand & color of lipstick. I always have it with me and I'm thankful for the little splash of color it provides every time I wear it.

Anna

I do try and be grateful for the little things in life like when you are making cakes for a special event and they turn out just as well as they were planned!

Jules

Having IBD means that there is a long list of food that I can't eat - I will be forever grateful that chocolate isn't on that list!

Tessa

While thinking about what I would scrap, I realized that my little blessings still have a big impact in my life. For example, I'm grateful that my husband doesn't mind when I steal his comfy athletic socks to wear to work as a hip hop dance teacher. He's a keeper :).

By playing along in November you could win $25.00 from Precocious Paper in the form of the Very Merry line, the Vintage Poinsettia line, or a shop credit (your choice). We can't wait to see what blessings you count - happy scrapping!

November 6th Challenge

Happy November! Tessa here, and I'm excited to be hosting the challenges this month. Ready for a new one?


Your challenge is to use hand-cut shapes in a layout. Whether you cut hearts, stars, or even just circles, no die-cutting tools are allowed! Scissors only :).

Julie:

Such a fun challenge! I didn't realize how often I was reaching for border punches. :)

For this layout I hand cut two layers of border scallops, as well as the hearts.

Jules:

I had fun hand cutting the pennants underneath the photo - you can tell they're hand cut because they're all wonky - never mind!

Anna:

This was a great challenge for me as my scissors are my best friend!! I used them all the time to cut things, I don't even own a cutting machine! Everything on my layout is hand cut!

Valerie:

I love my die cutting machines so this was definitely a challenge for me! I hand cut my title, which I made by first priting the letters from my computer, then using them as templates to cut around. I also hand cut the little mixed banner from a strip of scrap. 

Tessa:

I hoard punches and use my die-cut machine on a daily basis, but I loved the freedom of sitting down with just a pair of scissors and my patterned paper. I kept it simple with circles (well, round-ish shapes - they're far from circles!).

We hope you'll join us! Your scissors will appreciate the attention :). Should you choose to play, you could win your choice of the Very Merry line, Vintage Poinsettia line, or a shop credit for $25.00 USD from Precocious Paper:

To be in the running, simply create a layout that satisfies the challenge, post it on your blog or in a gallery, and leave a direct link to your layout in the comments below. Happy scrapping!