December 2024 - Traditions, Moments & Memories - And An Important Announcement!

 

 Welcome to our December Challenge!

As this time of year we are energized by the forthcoming Holiday Season and many of us are focused on creating seasonal projects, perhaps Christmas or Winter inspired.  With that in mind we have our December challenge of Traditions, Moments & Memories, challenge number 201, but sadly this will be the last challenge theme on More Than Words blog.

It's the end of an era.

More Than Words have been running fortnightly and monthly challenges for nearly 10 years and in that time, we have had 201 challenges, 120 terrific DT members,  nearly 500 posts, 3000 comments,  over 1100 blog followers, and 1.2 million views.  We have also been very fortunate to have our challenges sponsored by some wonderful papercraft brands over the years who have generously donated prizes to our many, many winners from the very first challenge.

Since 2020, there have been many changes to the world we live in and it has affected all of us in different ways.  Technology has also changed and so has the way we use it.  Unfortunately we have noticed fewer entries to our challenges each year and so with over 200 challenges and ten years under our belt, we feel that it is time to say goodbye to our blog challenge.   

Thank you to each and every one of you who have entered, supported, commented, visited and loved our challenge,  We have enjoyed seeing all of your amazing creativity over the years and have loved every minute.  

New things are happening!

This will be our final blog challenge, new things are happening next year and we will be back with our final post in January, to tell you all about it and hopefully to announce the winner of this challenge (providing we reach the minimum number of entries).

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We can't wait to see what you create this month and what you choose to focus on!  We are almost at the end of 2024 - how has your word of the year worked out for you so far?  Feel free to reflect on your WOTY and include it on your pages this month, together with the monthly prompt or instead of it.  The choice is yours!  Due to changes on Instagram it is harder to see the recent entries on a hashtag, so please also remember to tag us @mtw_challenge so we don't miss your projects.  

#MTWartjournalchallenge

Design Team Inspiration

Let's see what our lovely Design Team have created this month. If you love their projects, please visit their social links, like or follow them on your favourite social media.

ELLE - EOTC

This is the 12th and final page in my MTW 2024 junk journal and this one has an obvious theme for me in December! Christmas for me has always been about the excitement of Santa, Christmas trees and the possibility of snow.  (Less excited about that last one now!) So I have included all of those things on my page, and the little girl behind the window is standing next to a big Christmas tree.  The window opens to reveal all.   More photos and details on my blog.

Visit Elle:  BLOG - FACEBOOK -  INSTAGRAM

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HEATHER MCMAHON

This challenge made me think about what Christmas traditions we have in our family and I realised that we always have a Christmas tree. Sometimes it's so tall it touches the ceiling and other times it's small enough to sit on a table but we always have one regardless.

On my page, the Christmas tree and the reindeer names are both from ArtStacks' 'Christmas Quotes' MiniStack. I stole the idea for the hanging "Christmas" word baubles from a similar design in the same pack.

I hope you can join us in our last blog challenge ever! 

Visit Heather:  BLOG - FACEBOOK - PINTEREST - INSTAGRAM

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HEIDI MATTESSICH

Visit Heidi:  BLOG - INSTAGRAM -  YOUTUBE 

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KOUNELI

Visit Kouneli:   FACEBOOK - INSTAGRAM

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LENA BLANKENSTEIN HOLMSTROM

Visit Lena:   BLOG - FACEBOOK - INSTAGRAM - PINTEREST - YOUTUBE

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MATILDE FAB

My page is about my family tradition - first of all we choose an ideal Christmas tree and then we decorate it together. 

Visit Matilde:  BLOG - FACEBOOK - INSTAGRAM - YOUTUBE

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Prizes

This month we are very happy to have ArtStacks Designs as our prize sponsor. 

 ArtStacks will be donating one of their fabulous DigiStacks to the overall winner of our challenge, providing the minimum number of entries is received.   

Challenge closes on the last day of the month at 11:59 pm EST.  

Enter in our Facebook Group, using this month's Challenge Album!  

Enter on Instagram by tagging us (so we can see your entry!) @MTW_challenge and using the hashtag: #MTWartjournalchallenge

Special Guest Spotlight on IRIS PEREZ December 2022

 Hello everyone!

This month, we are very pleased to welcome Iris Perez, who was one of our September 2022 winners. 

We hope you enjoy her take on our December Main Challenge and do please visit her social links which are listed below in her Artist Bio.

Artist Bio 

My name is Iris, I am from Buenos Aires, Argentina. I have been making different types of crafts for more than 25 years and in the last few years, I have focused on the mixed media associated with scrapbooking. Although I like intervened or recycled objects a lot, I have a weakness for paper and I really like it as a support when creating.

Social Media links:

INSTAGRAM

Q & A with Iris

How long have you been art journalling?

I have been writing different art journals for several years.

What is your favorite supply or product?

My favorite art supplies are pigments, I see infinite possibilities in them.

Are you inspired by a particular artist or artists, if so who?

I like a lot of styles that are too contrasting. Sometimes inspiration just comes out of nowhere itself.

What is your favourite colour palette to use?

I don't have one, I'm always changing.

In my art journal, I have always wanted to try...? 

EVERYTHING! I see potential in unusual materials sometimes.

And finally, why do you enter art challenges?

Because I like to participate and promote this wonderful hobby. I know that I can touch at least one soul.

Iris's Interpretation of our December Main Challenge

Iris says:  For this art journal page, I used pigments and inks. Once dry, with a stencil, I applied embossing ink and did the same hot with shiny powders.

Then, I used the same stencil to apply gesso irregularly, I also spread it with a spatula generating textures and light in different parts of the project.

I used an image from a collage book that inspired me for the sentiment with the word sparkle.

Thanks for sharing your beautiful journal spread with us Iris!  We hope Iris's beautiful work inspires you to enter the December challenge!

Here's a reminder of our current Main Challenge:

Word Inspiration - SPARKLE

Creative Challenge - ADD GESSO

Don't forget that you can find all of our challenge details and extra information, as well as Iris's published interview in our new magazine Artful Pages.

Announcing Our December Challenge Winners

 Hello everyone and a big thank you to all who entered our December challenges! 

We want to take a moment to remind everyone who enters that since all our prizes are regionally based we are not able to consider you for a prize unless you include your COUNTRY in all your entries, whether you enter via inLinkz or our Facebook group.

We enjoyed seeing all of your entries and of course we also enjoyed creating for our challenges!  Thank you also to the Design Team for all of your inspiration.  Now let's see who our December winners are...

How to claim your prize

Winners, please contact the prize sponsor within 30 days, and in your email to the sponsors, please clearly indicate:

** YOUR FULL NAME

** YOUR SHIPPING ADDRESS

** THE MONTH AND PRIZE WON

(ex: January - Australia / Europe / USA / International etc)
Prizewinners:  Please also refer to this handy guide.

 

>>MAIN CHALLENGE WINNERS<<

We now have THREE winners and THREE prizes for the Main Challenge.  In addition, we would like to invite our Main challenge winners to be Guest Designers in a future challenge.  Please see the end of the post for more details.

Regional Challenge Winner - Europe 

Louise Lundqvist - Sweden

Congratulations Louise, you have won a $25 USD value prize from MAJA DESIGN

 Please click here for details on how to claim your prize.

Regional Challenge Winner International

 

Heidi Massesich - USA

Congratulations Heidi, you have won a $25 USD value prize from SCRAPMATTS

Please click here for details on how to claim your prize.

Regional Challenge Winner - International

Helen Hollinger - Canada

Congratulations Helen, you have won a $25 USD value from LEMONCRAFT

Please click here for details on how to claim your prize.

>>MINI CHALLENGE WINNERS<<

We now have ONE winner and ONE prize for the Mini Challenge.  In addition, we would like to invite our winner and our runners-up to be Guest Designers in a future challenge.  Please see the end of the post for more details.

As this challenge is now held in our Facebook Group, the links below will take you to the group, if you wish to view more photos.

Mini Challenge Winner

Shruti Doshi - India

Congratulations Shruti, you have won a $25 USD value *DIGITAL* prize from GECKO GALZ

Please click here for details on how to claim your prize.

Mini Challenge Runners-Up

Iris Perez - Argentina

Matilde Fab  - Poland

Big thank you to our Sponsors

We are very grateful to all our generous sponsors for these fabulous prizes.

To learn more about any of them, click on the SPONSORS tab.

Congratulations to all our winners

Congrats once again to all our winners and thank you to everyone who entered the challenge. We encourage all merit winners and runners-up to grab your badges from this post and proudly display it on your blog or social media. 

(for Louise, Heide, Helen, Shruti)

(for Iris and Matilde)

Share Your Winnings

SHARE YOUR UNBOXING - We would love to see your unboxing photos or videos! Share with us using the hashtags #MTWPrizeWinner and 

#MTWPrizeUnboxing on Instagram when you receive your prize or by tagging the sponsor plus More Than Words Challenges on Facebook.

SHARE WHAT YOU MAKE - We'd also love to see what you make using your prize products, so please show us by using the hashtags #MTWPrizeWinner  and #MTWPrizeWinnerMake on Instagram and Facebook.

PERMISSION TO SHARE PHOTOS - We'd love to share your good news so please also tag your photos with #MTWShare for permission to be featured on More Than Words' social media.

*** Special Guest Designer ***

We would like to invite all of our December 2021 winners and runners-up to be Guest Designers in a future challenge.  If you are interested, please leave a comment below with your contact details and we will get in touch (your details are safe as the comment will not be published and will be deleted later).  Alternately, send us a message us via More Than Words Facebook Page