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23 September, 2017

September 2017 Mini Challenge - BRAVE


It's Mini Challenge time once again, and we really 
hope that it will get you creating this week!
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!



JANICE NICHOLLS  -  tag


MARY CATT  -  tag


CAROLINE ELLIAM  -  tag


HEIKE'S AUGENBLICK  -  card


NICOLE DOIRON  -  tag


ELENA MARTYNOVA  -  tag


DI GARLING  -  tag


HEATHER MCMAHON  -  ATC


TORSA SAHA  -  tag



VALERIE OUELLET  -  tag


We're sure that you will agree that our DT rocked this mini challenge!

Now it's your turn! Will you be BRAVE enough to play along?

You have until 11:59 pm EST on Saturday, September 30th
to share your entry right HERE on our Facebook page.

16 September, 2017

Special Guest Spotlight on
ANTONIS TZANIDAKIS


Oh, have we got a treat for you this month
as far as the Special Guest is concerned!

It is no secret that the scrapbooking community is composed
by mainly female designers, but we do have a few very talented male
artists out there who are not afraid to shine in a mostly feminine world.

We are so happy to introduce to you today...

Antonis Tzanidakis is a world-known artist! 
You may already know him for his incredible mixed media art
that include fabulous handmade home decor and beautiful work on wood.
When he is not at home creating, he is travelling around the world
offering workshops to teach others new ways to create.

We are thrilled that he accepted our invitation to be our September Guest!

Let's learn a little more about Antonis through his own words:

I'm Antonis, a mixed media artist from Greece.
I studied to be a Captain in the Navy and used to be 
a professional basketball player, but at some moment in my life, 
somehow I found this art, this hobby. 

I started practicing my art alone and continued alone until now.
I started a few workshops in my hometown of Lefkada, later around the country
of Greece, and then very soon made my way around the world.
It never crossed my mind that I would someday travel the world
to teach art as a living, but this is my life now... and I love it!

As I often say, 'Life is a mixed media project!'

You can visit Antonis at the following links:


followed by Antonis' stunning project inspired by it.




Read below as Antonis describes in his own words how he was inspired
by our word and how he chose to incorporate our creative challenge:

FEARLESS... I think I was fearless all my life. And it was mostly that characteristic
in my personality that helped me to become the artist that I am today 
because you need to be fearless and try to mix things and take the challenge.
You need to be fearless if you want to take your art to a whole other level!

You can recognize that the style of my project goes very well with the word
and also the GRUNGE creative challenge which is very much a style
that I love in my every day art. I was inspired by this challenge and also
by myself as I am both fearless and grungy.

Antonis' mixed media canvas is the perfect take on our September challenge.
We love all the masculine and dark grungy elements to it
and the different textures and techniques that he used.

Take a closer look with us at all the details:






A big THANK YOU to Antonis for joining us 
as our September Special Guest!

We hope that you will take inspiration from Antonis' creation
and that you will play along with our September Main Challenge.

You have until September 30th to link up!

08 September, 2017

Announcing Our August Winners


Hello all!  We are back today to make some very happy scrappers even happier!


We have had such great responses once again to both our Main and Mini Challenges,
and the voting was very difficult for our DT.  So many of you keep wow'ing
us each month with your creations and we only wish we had prizes for everyone!

Before we announce our winners, we must remind you 
to carefully read and make sure to understand our challenge rules 
as we unfortunately have had to remove some very beautiful entries 
from the voting selection because rules had not been followed.
But do not fret, this month we have a whole other fabulous challenge
with which we hope you will play along, so good luck to all!

And now, with no further ado...


MAIN CHALLENGE WINNER
(as voted by our DT)

LISA  (entry 28)
Congratulations Lisa, you are the winner of our August Main Challenge!
Lisa, please contact Aida at 13arts(at)wp(dot)pl
to claim your $50 USD value prize from 13ARTS.


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

NOURA POMPILLA  (entry 41)
Noura, please contact Anna at info(at)piondesign(dot)se
to claim your $25 USD value prize from PION DESIGN.


DAISY RAMSAY  (entry 40)
Daisy, please contact Aneta at scrapandcraft(dot)co(dot)uk(at)gmail(dot)com
to claim your $25 USD value prize from SCRAP AND CRAFT.


ANAT WEKSLER  (entry 18)
Anat, please contact Anna at skelp(at)lemoncraft(dot)pl
to claim your $25 USD value prize from LEMONCRAFT.


TILIA  (entry 48)
Tilia, please contact Vanessa at salesat2crafty(at)optusnet(dot)com(dot)au
to claim your $25 USD value prize from 2CRAFTY CHIPBOARD.


RANDOM WINNERS
(selected via Random.org)


AUDREY  (entry 39)
Audrey, please contact Janene at janene(at)49andmarket(dot)com
to claim your $25 USD value prize from 49 AND MARKET.


TRACEY B  (entry 9)
Tracey, please contact Caroline at creationselliam(at)yahoo(dot)ca
to claim your $25 USD value prize from CUTS2LUV.


MYSTERY WINNER
(hand picked by our Admin team)

The first thing that caught our eye when looking at Asia's art journal page are the printed SONG LYRICS on the background. We thought that this was the perfect take on our creative challenge. We also love how Asia described in her blog post what the word HARMONY means to her and we couldn't agree with her more. This is a gorgeous creation which we thought deserved a special mention and prize!

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


MINI CHALLENGE WINNER

Hanne, 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:

PREETI D  (entry 19)
MARTINA STOYCHEVA  (entry 25)
SANDRA BERNARD  (entry 8)
SHANTAL  (entry 11)
MELISSA LARSEN  (entry 15)
MAGDALENA  (entry 30)
ANNA MARKOVSKA  (entry 49)
LISA-MARIE  (entry 16)

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 September 30th at 11:55 pm EST.
  

01 September, 2017

September 2017 Main Challenge
FEARLESS & GRUNGE


It's September, and in the North, people are saying 'Where has the Summer gone?!' 
and in the South, people are happy that it is finally Spring!  
Wherever you are though, September is a great month to scrapbook,
 so hopefully you will join in on our new Main Challenge!

Along with a fabulous challenge, we have a surprise for you...
a new amazing manufacturer has joined our sponsor lineup
and thanks to them, we can offer not 2, but 3 random prizes this month,
along with our usual list of merit and mystery prizes...
So definitely extra incentive to play along!
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 - FEARLESS
Creative Challenge - GRUNGE

What does the word FEARLESS 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!

GRUNGE is defined as a deliberately untidy and uncoordinated style. Whether it focuses on dark colours, a distressed or stained look, punk graffiti, messy designs, one thing's for certain... you have to not be scared of taking risks.  So be fearless and let's get grungy!

VERY IMPORTANT REMINDER ABOUT MTW RULES!
To be eligible to win, you have to incorporate both requirements of the challenge, 
the word inspiration and the creative challenge.
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.


Now let's see what our amazing DT have come up with
to showcase this month's word and incorporate the creative challenge!



Heike: One of the things I really love in my life is to visit an acrobatic circus: the smell of popcorn, the tension in the air and the excitement on the children's faces! The acrobats with their FEARLESSness have my total admiration, thus my choice of photo this month.  The GRUNGE background gives a good dramatic effect to the theme and the 7 Dots Studio papers offer the perfect final touch.


Torsa: I think sometimes we all have to overcome our inner fears; it is so important for all of us! For the last few months, my life has been a bit topsy turvy. Each day was like a new challenge. So I have created an art journal page by image transfer inspired by my inner soul telling me to be FEARLESS. For the GRUNGE style, I have used a dark background with some wires and metal gears.


Heather: I believe that we all have fears. I don't think we can be completely FEARLESS, but we do need to face and conquer those fears as best as we can. 
I used torn paper, Colour Crush and stamping to GRUNGE up my page.


Valerie: I was inspired by the picture in the challenge board so I used a photo of my boy posing in front of a graffiti wall. The paper has a perfect GRUNGE look and I continued the graffiti effect on my background. Inspired by the word, I used the quote: You are FEARLESS, independent and original.


Janice: He is, it seems, quite FEARLESS. My boy is young and fearless; he is not afraid to have a go, to try new things, to have fun, to enjoy the moment and life in general. My GRUNGY background was created with paints, mists, stamps, washi tape and chipboard. The chipboard was altered with paint, inks and mists, and once 
dry, I distressed parts of it back to the raw chippie.


Di: This month's challenge inspired me to create this layout featuring my grandson who is not quite two years old and has absolutely NO FEAR of anything yet, 
although I hope that will change with time. I really enjoyed getting
 my GRUNGE on for this challenge.


Anguree: I was very inspired by the GRUNGE creative challenge this month. It led me to pull out the Geli Plate that I so needed quite some time ago.  And yes, I loved using it as it was really freeing! This whole layout was about facing my fears, letting go, pouring my emotions unto the page and just create, almost like an art journal on a 12x12 page. I used an unconventional photo size and unconventional cropping methods. I cut my photo mat by hand instead of using a trimmer which I never do as I can be quite particular.  Maybe I should be FEARLESS a little more often!


Aga: In your life you must be FEARLESS to face reality which many a times seems to be like a jungle or pure chaos. That is what my art journal page represents. The background of my page is messy and uncoordinated to imitate my GRUNGY style.


Lilibleu: To illustrate this month's theme, I chose a vintage photo of one of these FEARLESS extreme builders who build very high buildings without the slightest protection. In order to give a GRUNGE look to my page, I used spots of ink in a disorderly fashion and created a mess on my project... a beautiful mess, that is!


Pamela: My oldest grandchild Lily is the most FEARLESS person I know. She is willing to try anything! I am so proud of this trait in her and nurture it as much as I can. I used old washi tapes, paints and stamps to achieve the GRUNGY look.


Caroline: Since he was born, my son has been totally FEARLESS. He was about 9 months old when he started to climb in the playground's big kid section. Now he's 13 and I hope that this side of his personality will follow him during all his life when he'll have to make choices for his future. I wish that he can make his dreams come true without any fear. For the GRUNGE twist, I used a very grungy background paper and a minimalist style with dark colours.


Elena: We are afraid of many things. But not all of them are real; many of them we invent ourselves. These are the dark, monsters under the bed, ghosts and vampires! It's time to face your fears and become completely FEARLESS because life is too short to waste it on stupid fears. To make the project look GRUNGY was not difficult. I added strokes of dark paint on the background and used 
stamped images with sinister characters.


Nicole: Life is sometimes a struggle, but most of all, it's a precious blessing full of beauty and inspiration once we decide to let go of our fears and insecurities. This special man has taught me to be a little more open, a lot more grateful and a bit more FEARLESS in my every day life. The creative challenge was indeed a real challenge for me as I don't normally do GRUNGE.  To help me along, I chose some very grungy papers and made them messier by adding stamping, paints and inks as well as lots of masculine accents.


Mary: We all have some fears in our lives. I believe that we have to face and defeat them before we let them overcome us. At least, we have to try... We must be FEARLESS, be brave and take some risks to achieve that.  To make the page look GRUNGY, I used dark colours on an already very grungy background paper.


Kavitha: I used the word FEARLESS on my page and opted for a photo of a bold and beautiful woman who seems to be ready to conquer her fears. For the GRUNGE creative challenge, I went really crazy, fearless you could say, with paints and bright colours along with lots of black.


Now that you have been wowed by our designers,
it's time to take a look at the prizes up for grab this month!


All our prizes include free international postage!


MAIN CHALLENGE WINNER
(as voted by our DT)

$50 USD value prize from MAGENTA

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


Magenta is a Canadian company founded in 1991 by Daniel Tate, Hélène et Nathalie Métivier.  It was first born out of a passion that turned from small to a medium-sized enterprise. Today the passion is still alive and it is always with renewed pleasure that we release new collections one after another.  In the past year, a new product line was added to our already popular stamps and stencils... Nuance, a range of 20 colours of water soluble powders that can be easily used to create beautiful watercolour effects.  We hope that you will check our fine range of products 
and that you will enjoy!


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

$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)


$25 USD value prize from MAJA DESIGN



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

$25 USD value prize from THE SCRAPBOOK DIARIES


$25 USD value prize from CUTS2LUV
(image below is for illustration purposes only)


$25 USD value prize from CANVAS CORP BRANDS
(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, including our new occasional sponsor, 
Canvas Corp Brand, click on the SPONSORS tab above.

We are looking forward to seeing your entries into our
September Main Challenge FEARLESS & GRUNGE!

Link up your projects using our LinkyTool in the right sidebar
by September 30th at 11:55 pm EST.