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23 July, 2017

July 2017 Mini Challenge - GO



It's Mini Challenge time once again!!!

We realize that July is a busy month in most parts of the world,
but we hope that you will take a little creative time for yourself
this coming week to play along with our fun quick and easy challenge!

Here's how it works:

The Mini Challenge runs on the last week of each month and is for cards, tags and ATCs only.  (ATCs, or Artist Trading Cards, are small works of heart, about 2.5 by 3.5 inches or 64 x 89 mm). This challenge requires you to use a specific word on your project. We must see the actual word. You have only one week - until the last day of the month - to enter, so be quick!

Entry for the Mini Challenge is only 
via our Facebook page under the relevant post.

The winner, as voted by our DT, will receive a $25 USD value prize
from THE DUSTY ATTIC, our fabulous Mini Challenge sponsor!

You can see all our rules under the RULES tab above.

Is this word inspiring you to make a mini creation? We sure hope so!



CAROLINE ELLIAM  -  tag


DI GARLING  -  card


ELENA MARTYNOVA  -  card


HEIKE'S AUGENBLICK  -  card


JANICE NICHOLLS  -  tag


LILIBLEU  -  tag


MARY CATT  -  tag


NICOLE DOIRON  -  tag


PAMELA ELLIS  -  ATC


TORSA SAHA  -  tag


Now that you've been inspired by our fabulous DT,
we hope that you will give our Mini Challenge a 'GO'!

You have until 11:59 pm EST on Monday, July 31st
to share your entry right HERE on our Facebook page.

16 July, 2017

Special Guest Spotlight on
MISSY WHIDDEN


Are you ready to be wowed by yet another fabulous Guest Designer
here on the More Than Words blog?!

This artist's creations are bold, bright, whimsy, fun.
She loves playing with paints, watercolors, gelatos
and has the midas touch when die cutting patterned papers.
We know that you will absolutely love her!


So with no further ado, here she is...


We are so happy to have Missy Whidden with us this month,
because the moment that we thought up our EXPLORE & ARROWS challenge,
we knew that we wanted her to be our Special Guest.  It is a perfect match!

Let's learn a little more about Missy through her own words:

Hello fellow scrappy friends! I'm Missy Whidden from sunny Florida, USA.  
I've been married to Marshall for over 17 years, and we have 2 silly little girls. 
 I've been scrapbooking for over 10 years, and I dearly love it!  I love incorporating 
mixed media products and techniques to my layouts.  Watercolors, gelatos and 
paints are my favorite. I also love using my Silhouette Cameo 
to create fun die cuts and sewing on my projects. 

When I'm not scrapping, I'm a fitness instructor.  I love helping people get 
and stay healthy through exercise.  I also love to travel, read 
and spend time with my family.  

Thank you so much for having me as a Guest Designer!

You can visit Missy at the following links:
BLOG  -  YOUTUBE  -  INSTAGRAM  -  PINTEREST  -  FACEBOOK


Here is a reminder of our July Main Challenge EXPLORE & ARROWS
followed by the beautiful layout that Missy has designed for us!




Read below as Missy describes in her own words how she was inspired
by our word and how she chose to incorporate our creative challenge:

I was inspired by both the word EXPLORE and the ARROWS 
creative challenge for this project. 

I immediately thought of creating a travel themed layout, and I wanted to incorporate a fun arrow cut file that I've been itching to use for a while. 
My husband and I were out exploring St. Maarten during vacation, 
and the arrows were the perfect design element.  The cut file is 
from the Just Nick store, and I cut it on a colorful 
Simple Stories patterned paper.  I went with this collection 
because it matches my photo perfectly.  

I used some gesso and watercolors on my background to give 
some depth and more color.  I had a white puffy sticker in my stash
 for the title, so I used it up.  I embellished with lots of die cuts, 
stickers, enamel dots, sequins, wood veneer and thread.  I love 
being inspired by challenges, and this one was a lot of fun!

How wonderful and pretty is this layout?
We agree with Missy that the arrow cut file that she chose turned out 
to be the perfect focal point for her page and our creative challenge.  
Her combination of colours go so well with the photo
of Missy and her hubby EXPLORING the world!


Here are some close-ups of Missy's page:





A big THANK YOU to Missy for joining us as our July Special Guest!

We hope that you will take inspiration from Missy's creation
and that you will play along with our July Main Challenge.

You have until July 31st to link up!

08 July, 2017

Announcing Our June Winners


Oh, what a glorious day the 8th of the month is for us!
We get to make people happy with prizes, prizes and more prizes.


First and foremost, though, we want to thank you all who participated
in our FATHER & STEAMPUNK Main Challenge as well of course as
our HE Mini Challenge. We know that for some of you, going steampunk
 and somewhat masculine, probably meant stepping out of our crafty
comfort zone, but we are thrilled by the quality of all your projects.
Every month, you never fail to wow us with your creativity!


Now let's see who are the lucky ones...



MAIN CHALLENGE WINNER
(as voted by our DT)

KATR KOPH  (entry 3)
Congratulations Katr, you are the winner of our June Main Challenge!
Katr, please contact Janene at janene(at)49andmarket(dot)com
to claim your $50 USD value prize from 49 AND MARKET.


RUNNERS UP
(as voted by our DT, in no particular order)

ANAT WEKSLER  (entry 8)
Anat, please contact Aida at 13arts(at)wp(dot)pl
to claim your $25 USD value prize from 13ARTS.


EINAT KESSLER  (entry 31)
Einat, please contact Anna at info(at)piondesign(dot)se
to claim your $25 USD value prize from PION DESIGN.


DEBBIE HAWKE-WAREHAM  (entry 2)
Debbie, please contact Aneta at scrapandcraft(dot)co(dot)uk(at)gmail(dot)com
to claim your $25 USD value prize from SCRAP AND CRAFT.


KATH WHITE  (entry 24)
Kath, please contact Anna at skelp(at)lemoncraft(dot)pl
to claim your $25 USD value prize from LEMONCRAFT.


RANDOM WINNERS
(selected via Random.org)


LYS  (entry 13)
Lys, please contact Vanessa at salesat2crafty(at)optusnet(dot)com(dot)au
to claim your $25 USD value prize from 2CRAFTY CHIPBOARD.



SANDY ROSS  (entry 20)
Sandy, please contact Kelly at kellymarie(at)lawnfawn(dot)com
to claim your $15 USD value prize from LAWN FAWN.


MYSTERY WINNER
(hand picked by our Admin team)

BUNNYZSONIAL  (entry 21)
We picked this project as our winning project for the Mystery Prize because
we found the hat to be a gorgeous recreation of our steampunk hat image
on our challenge board. Every single embellishment was careful placed,
and the picture of a very  special father, looking quite steampunk-y
himself,  was the perfect focal point for this fabulous page!

Bunnyzsonial, please contact Tanya at fabrikadecoru(at)gmail(dot)com
to claim your $25 USD value prize from FABRIKA DECORU.


MINI CHALLENGE WINNER

Gencsi, please contact Jen at dustyattic(at)bigpond(dot)com
to claim your $25 USD value prize from THE DUSTY ATTIC.


Lastly, here are a few HONOURABLE MENTIONS who have not made it 
into our Top 5, but who received a high number of votes from our DT:

AMY VOORTHUIS  (entry 26)
MARTINA STOYCHEVA  (entry 30)
NOURA POMPILLA  (entry 38)
BADBARBIE  (entry 19)
ASIA MARQUET  (entry 4)
ANASTASIA TISEVYCH  (entry 40)
RETO  (entry 28)


Congratulations to all our winners
and again a huge THANK YOU to all our participants!

We encourage all you merit winners, honourable mentions and participants
whose project was featured on our Facebook page throughout the month
to grab your badge from our left sidebar and proudly display it on your blog.

To learn more about all our wonderful and generous sponsors,
click on the SPONSORS tab above.

***
is currently underway and we hope that you will join in!
Link up your project by July 31st at 11:59 pm EST.


01 July, 2017

July 2017 Main Challenge
EXPLORE & ARROWS


Happy July 1st everyone!

It's time yet again to reveal a new Main Challenge,
and we really hope that you will love it!

We have a few new fabulous designers as announced a couple days ago,
and along with the rest of our very talented design team, they have created 
some wonderful projects which we cannot wait to share with you.

So, without further delay, here is the July Main Challenge:
Our Main Challenge is based on a word inspiration and a creative challenge.
The challenge is open to layouts, canvases and art journal pages only.
Make sure to carefully read our instructions below.

Word Inspiration - EXPLORE
Creative Challenge - ARROWS

What does the word EXPLORE inspire you to create?
You can choose to use the actual word somewhere on your project 
or simply be inspired by it.  Since, as you are aware, words are an integral 
part of our challenges, we want to know how this month's word stimulated 
your creative process, so please do explain in your blog post how it inspired you!

July is often a month during which we like to get away and explore new horizons whether we are in the Northern hemisphere and are enjoying Summer holidays or in the Southern hemisphere and want to escape Winter for a warmer climate. So we go our own way... follow our arrow, wherever it points! So, our creative challenge this month is to add ARROWS (1 or more) on your project!

VERY IMPORTANT REMINDER ABOUT MTW RULES!
To be eligible to win, you have to incorporate both requirements of the challenge, 
the word inspiration (EXPLORE) and the creative challenge (ARROWS).
Just look at our designers' projects and descriptions as examples.
You must also include our board image as well as a link to our blog in your entry post.  AND you may combine our challenge with no more than 2 other challenges.

Please check out all our challenge rules in the RULES tab above.




 Heike: I want to be a happy traveler, one day when my kids are all grown up. Years ago, my husband and I made a bucket list. One point on this list is traveling. The word EXPLORE is the perfect description for our adventure. I made my layout on white cardstock and happy bright colors as well as many bold black arrows 
as a symbol of our dream.


 Janice: This is my first layout as a More Than Words DT member, and I am feeling a little anxious about it all! I have added the word EXPLORE to my layout and journaled about Sarah walking around Time Square in the snow, 
hence the ARROWS going around the photo.


 Mary: The word inspiration EXPLORE brought to my mind one of my dreams. I always wanted to travel and explore the world, so I decided to scrap a photo of a yacht traveling on the seas. I've also added some ARROWS on my layout 
to show the directions that can be followed.


Torsa: I have created a layout on which you can find a story! It is inspired by my daughter. Her Summer break just began, and she has already packed her bags. When I asked her about her plans, she said that she wants to go on a treasure hunt. But where? 'I have to find out!', she said very seriously. I have created a road sign with ARROWS and used the word EXPLORE on my page. 
I think I have nailed the challenge perfectly!


Pamela: To me, the word EXPLORE immediately brings to mind children. They have an innate curiosity about everything. They want to try everything, learn everything and play everything! So I chose a photo that represents a child exploring the world of art. There are ARROWS in my title as well as 2 on my page as decorations.


Elena T: For our July EXPLORE challenge, I took this photo of my youngest son. He is like a little pirate exploring the new possibilities of his equipment. This boy is always looking for an adventure! I used metallic ARROWS as a decorative 
element in my composition.


Di: I was inspired to scrap this picture of my grandson that we took the other day. It was a perfect photo for this challenge because he is just 20 months old and at that age they just EXPLORE everything! Life is just one big exploration! I loved the ARROW challenge too and think I can definitely tick that box.


Caroline: When I saw the word inspiration EXPLORE, I thought about this picture of my 2 younger boys, walking hand in hand in the forest. It was last Summer, and I had no occasion to scrapbook it before now. I really like the way they walk together, looking around to try and see some animals in the woods. For the creative twist, I used a lot of ARROWS stamped and a couple of foil stickers. 
I also have an arrow on my badge.


Lilibleu: To illustrate the EXPLORE theme, in addition to the word itself which I directly used on my project, I also chose a photo representing a door that opens on an unknown world.  It is an invitation to explore it! I put ARROWS all around my picture to give the idea of the direction to take.


Nicole: 'Be brave & EXPLORE life' - this is the title of my layout and a message that I would like to relay to my nieces, including the youngest in the photo, who are already living life to the fullest every day! They're a constant inspiration to me! I went a little crazy with the creative challenge - I added over 30 ARROWS on my page.  I made the deep fuschia swirly arrows pop out to represent how life doesn't always follow a straightforward path. You have to not be afraid 
and follow wherever it may lead. 


Aga: 'EXPLORE yourself' which I've written on my art journal page means to me that you have to focus on your objectives and try to reach them so that you can find yourself.  I added several different style of ARROWS to decorate my page.


Elena M: Children are little explorers! They are interested in everything. Everywhere they poke their little nosy noses! I made a layout about my nephew. He is a very active and cheerful baby. I have also added a lot of ARROWS to show how he is interested in EXPLORING the world in all directions.


Anguree: I found some mojo sitting on a yatch my hubby was interested to buy. We have been speaking of sailing the world since we met and maybe one day this dream will come true. It was not this day, but sitting there on the docks reminded me of the dream to EXPLORE new places and going where I have never been before. I dream of discovering hidden treasures and less traveled roads. These treasures are not the kind that may come to mind. It includes no gold or gems, but the people, relationships and experiences we hope to come across on our way. I have traveled a fair bit in my life and those are amongst the things that inspire me to do it over and over again. I added some beautiful metal ARROWS on my canvas 
to help me find the way!


Valerie: My wish for my son is to see him spread his wings and EXPLORE what life can offer for him to be able to reach his dreams. For the creative challenge, 
I added some paper ARROW die cuts.


Kavitha: My page is about EXPLORing our fears. One of my favorite quotes is 'Everything you want is on the other side of your fear.' We all have our fears, but finally when we gather the courage to overcome them, the result is always rewarding. So, overcome your fears and follow your dreams! For the creative challenge, I have used lots of ARROWS showing the direction 
to your dreams coming true.


WOW!  Our DT sure have explored this challenge to the fullest
and have come up with stunning inspiration for all of you!

And now, on with the prizes...


All our prizes include free international postage!

MAIN CHALLENGE WINNER
(as voted by our DT)

$50 USD value prize from THE SCRAPBOOK DIARIES

Here is more information about this month's 1st place prize sponsor:

The Scrapbook Diaries is an online retailer for premium scrapbooking and paper craft supplies. We specialize in kits from the industries' top designers. Our kits come mailed with directions as well as access to step by step videos that enable you to follow the creative process of designers from around the world. We carry products from international manufactures and we boast the largest selection of laser-cut chipboard available on the web.


4 RUNNERS UP
(as voted by our DT, in no particular order)

$25 USD value prize from MAGENTA


$25 USD value prize from LINDY'S
(image below is for illustration purposes only)


$25 USD value prize from THE DUSTY ATTIC


$25 USD value prize from 7 DOTS STUDIO
(image below is for illustration purposes only)


2 RANDOM WINNERS
(picked at random from all eligible entries)

$25 USD value prize from MAJA DESIGN

$25 USD value prize from COCOA VANILLA STUDIO
(image below is for illustration purposes only)


MYSTERY WINNER
(hand picked by our Admin team - an entry not in our Top 5, 
but that has that special something that captured our attention)

$25 USD value prize from FABRIKA DECORU

We are very grateful to all our generous sponsors for these fabulous prizes!
To learn about any of them, click on the SPONSORS tab above.

We are looking forward to seeing your entries into our
July Main Challenge EXPLORE & ARROWS!

Link up your projects using our LinkyTool in the right sidebar
by July 31st at 11:59 pm EST.