**DESIGN TEAM CALL**

For April's winners please click HERE

*****

Well this is an exciting time for me! It is finally time to announce our first EVER Design Team call. 

How would you like to be part of our family here at Once Upon A..Sketch? I say family, because this is how I feel about people who are working with me on this little project of mine called Once Upon A...Sketch. Dedicated and professional individuals, whose talents go over and beyond their craft. People as passionate about my ideas as I am. Strong women with strong opinions! People like my current team whose term ends on June 30th :( . Women of character and integrity. 

This makes me so sad because let's just say they have been through thick and thin through the last year and half with me and yes, in many ways we became family! They listened to my anxieties about what will work and what won't, they held my hand during the biggest loss of my life, they created a book of hope with pages sent from all over the world, they advised, and listened and didn't panic during blog hops, and laughed and giggled and debated over "stuff". One thing is clear..the next lot of people who will be in this family have HUGE shoes to fill. 

So we are not saying goodbye yet, but getting excited with this announcement as I know many of you have been patiently waiting. I receive a question about when the next call will be, nearly every week from people eager to join this team. 

So what am I looking for? 

* style - I am looking to mix up the styles from clean and simple to layered to romantic and shabby to a non style.Thats people like me, who do not have a particular style LOL! .  So please do not think I am looking for 1 particular style. I urge you to give it a go. Also high on the list is a clean and professional presentation of your layouts in the way they are photographed. 

* commitment - I am after people that can commit to 1 layout PER month and comment and vote on all entries every SECOND month. I want to believe that I am very flexible and easy going. I can almost always work with my Design Team if they need time off!

* personality - yes this is important to me as you will be the face of Once Upon A..Sketch. I like friendly and warm people that are willing to work in a team and adapt to unforeseen changes, speak their minds when something is not right, give ideas and opinions etc etc.  

*organisation - this is imperative to me. I like working with organised people because it is the only way I know how to work. You will be given a deadline for when your layout is due so I really admire people that can work with deadlines. The challenges are created by me well in advance and will be easily accessible in our private Design Team blog for you to see so there are no excuses for being late UNLESS otherwise organised with me. :) Gosh that sounds harsh..LOL!  

* BLOG and FACEBOOK - you need to have an active blog and a Facebook account. The only reason you need a Facebook account is because we have a private page there where we chat so if you are not crazy about using Facebook you do not have to worry about posting anything there publicly. It will only be in our private page. In addition, you will need to post about our challenge on your blogs. 

* Term - the term of this Design Team is for 1 year. It will start on July 1st 2012 and finish June 30th 2013. 

* Other Design Teams - no problem for me at all. I do not mind if you design for other sketch challenge blogs or any sort of Design Team :)

 (UPDATED) * Internationals - yes this is open internationally to anyone anywhere

* Journalling - I know this is something people worry about as many people do not like journalling at the front of their layouts. However, journalling of some sort is required as it is our main focus on this challenge blog. But of course, we always allow for hidden journalling or for journalling to be written on the back of the layout. 

I think I have covered everything! 

If this sounds like something you would be interested in then send me an email here 

dtcall2012@hotmail.com 

together with your blog address and any online gallery links. Please include on the subject line *DESIGN TEAM CALL* and please just include a simple message expressing your interest in joining my team . 

The Design Team call is open right now until midnight 31st of May 2012 Australian Eastern Standard Time. 

Please remember to just go for it! You just never know what it is I am looking for. 

I wish you luck :)

April **Winners** Announced!!!

SO many wonderful entries and so SO hard for the designers to choose again. We had a HUGE 95 entries and  it seems to me you all mostly agreed with the monthly challenge and the extra time to enter your layouts! 

As always, THANK YOU all for your supporting our challenges. We just absolutely LOVE reading your journalling and see what you all come up with. 

Now, please just remember that we DO require some journalling on your layouts. As I said last month we are allowing you to write "as much or as little as you like" but just clarifying with you all that it does not mean you simply use the journalling prompt in you title :) We do indeed need to see some journalling or record of what your layout is about :)

As I mentioned earlier in the month, from this month onward we will have more than 1 winner per challenge and a further few featured layouts due to the huge number of entries we are receiving.  This is because there are simply TOO MANY wonderful entries and voting is close every month so why not feature more of you that stand out? 

SO here we go with the new winners format!

April Challenge Winners

(in winning order) 

Solange Marques (Brazil) 

Congratulations Solagne! This is a truly beautiful layout with all the trade mark details consistent with your style. Your use of mixed media, together with some beautiful chipboard make this one a winner. The background of your layout is simply stunning, as is that gorgeous picture!! You received the most points from our Design Team and for this effort you win your self the fantastic April kit from C'est Magnifique kit club PLUS you get to come back in June as our Guest Designer! Please email me at nadiac78@hotmail.com with your address details so I can get the prize sent out to you and to also send out all the information you need for your Guest Designer spot in July!

Tiffany Morgan (USA) 

* Tiffany has hidden journalling under the peg on the left hand side of her layout. 

What a STUNNING layout. I do not know what warms up the heart more, that gorgeous baby with the super cute eyes and mouth or the way this layout has been put together with so much love and care? Tiffany,  the colours you have used here just go SO beautifully together. Your embellishments, ever so soft, look so gorgeous together with that amazing picture and beautiful details everywhere! Your heart felt journalling was also just lovely to read. Well done Tiffany!

Anna Zaprzelska (Poland) 

Anna took a different approach to our HOME theme..She journalled about her dream home and Anna, I agree! That looks like an amazing place to live. Anna has a very soft and layered but clean style and a busy photo like that isnt lost on her gorgeous layers and cluster of embellishments and flowers. I also love that she fitted quite a bit of journalling on a small tag like that and that string going over your journalling tag and photo ties everything together so well Anna. Just stunning work!

Kay Fatula (USA) 

Yet another stunner from our loyal supporter here at Once Upon A..Sketch, Kay! Just look at all the detailed stitching, the way little details peek at you and the way we can see a little of the journalling to want to read more. Once again, perfect colour choice and beautiful pictures! Beautiful Kay :)

Lynnda Hosni (Australia) 

What an awesome take on the sketch Lynnda! FANTASTIC cluster you have created here and I believe that is your journalling on the left hand side? You have interpreted this challenge so beautifully and added many pictures and this is what we like here at Once Upon A..Sketch..people thinking outside the square! Beautiful elements all around your page! Lovely work :)

Ladies PLEASE grab your winners badge from the left hand side of the blog !

Now here are our.. 

Featured layouts

These are layouts that were some of the Design Teams favourites.

Romy Veul (The Netherlands) 

 

Kelly Foster (USA) 

Cynthia Llorens (Brazil) 

Elena Stefanidou (Greece) 

Belinda Spencer (Australia) 

Maria Tsilvidou (Greece) 

Kitika (Russia) 

Mona Pendleton (USA) 

Well done everyone!! Please grab your featured badge from the side of the blog :)

Random Prize Winners

As you may recall I said last month that only the names of the winners will be written here and not images of the random.org draw to lessen the amount of information on here. But please do rest assured that random.org was used to draw the names of these winners. 

The person that wins the pack from Imaginarium Designs is #58 Christina Lampropoulou from Greece

The person that wins the handmade tag from Bery71Bleu is #66 Inqba  from Sweden 

The person that wins the paper collection from Julia Cotrim Scrapbooking is Milagros Rivera from Puerto Rico 

CONGRATULATIONS girls! Please email me at nadiac78@hotmail.com with your address details and the prize you won so I can organised these prizes to be sent out to you!

May Challenge + Meet Our Guest Designer **LUZMA BRUNA**

Well hello everyone! Its just past midnight and it is now officially MAY! I am not sure where the last 4 months went, but it is simply scary how fast time is passing. So there is just one thing to keep in mind...we must keep on doing the things that make us happy and let go of the ones that are not, because its all going past way so quickly and we don't want to be in the sidelines watching pass do we? 

Now, back to business as usual here after an exciting month of blog hops, goodbyes, hellos, giveaways just to name a few of the happenings in April. 

The Design Team will get onto voting in the next couple of days and we shall have the April winners announced asap. Also..a little heads up..look out for a **SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT** in about 1 weeks time..

But today, we are revealing our May challenge and also half the Design Team's interpretation of the challenge. The other half will be shown on May 15th. 

There is also a new way of announcing the winners here. Just scroll down past the layouts and see just how many prizes we have up for grabs so with so many people wanting to sponsor our site AND the huge amount of entries we have continue to receive, it is almost impossible if not unfair to choose just 1 winner out of so many wonderful entries. SO from May onward, we will have 5 winners who will receive a prize including the first placed winner who will be our Guest Designer for the next month. On top of that, we will also have a further Top 5 featured layouts each month. 

Hope all this makes sense. Can't wait to see what you all come up with for this VERY special challenge that is near and dear to all our hearts! 

 Theme: Mum

We would like you to create a layout and interpret the theme "Mum" however you like based on the following sketch. You can journal as little or as much as you like, but your layout must incorporate this theme and the sketch.

Ideas for journalling: you as a mother, your role as a working/stay-at-home mum, sacrifices/benefits of being a mum, one day in your life as a mum, how your life has changed since being a mum, a tribute to your own mum, grandmother, guardian or someone you consider as close as your mum, your relationship with your mum or your daughter, one trait you have take from your mum, your desire to be a mum, your feelings on motherhood, what does it mean to be a mum?, what kind of mum do you want to be? , Mother's Day celebrations/traditions, your favourite Mother's Day gift given/receive etc..

Please help me welcome our invited Guest Designer for May,  the very talented..

Luzma Bruna (Chile) 

First of all I want to say thank you so so much to Nadia for inviting me to be guest designer this month.I feel so honored and I love her sketches.I usually play with her fabulous sketches. Hi! My name is Luz Maria but everybody calls me Luzma.  I`m 46 years old. I`ve been married for 17 years to Rodrigo.We have a girl of 15 call Bernardita (Nini) and a boy of 13 call Rodrigo (Yoyo).I began to scrap in March 2007 and now  I`m addicted!!! I also love everything crafty.I love cross stitch and knitting.For me it was hard to make a layout about my mom.She suffers from dementia so I used this photo I took about a year ago,she´s been deteriorating so much but I feel that now she´s more happy and quiet.I want to remember her how she looks in this photo,happy,pretty and smiling.

I'd love to see you over at my blog Luzma's Scrap Place

Here is Luzma's layout based on our theme and sketch

"This layout is like a tribute to my mother.She suffer from dementia so this photo is from March 2011.Now she´s so much deteriorated,she never smile any more,so I want to remember here like this when she was better than now"

Just look at the amazing layouts our super talented Design Team have created. Please click on their names to be directed to their blogs for further details. 

Nadia Cannizzo (Australia) 

* Imaginarium Designs flourish, border, photo corner alphabet

Patti Hamil (USA) 

 * Imaginarium Designs chipboard  title & clock

Irini Liolia (Greece) 

Vicky Varvadouka (Greece) 

* Imaginarium Designs Flourish & title

Hidden journaling on the tag behind the photo!

Sandi Taloumis (USA)

* Imaginarium Designs chipboard butterfly 

Jeni O'Connor (Canada/Australia)

**Imaginarium Designs chipboard butterflies and shape.

Lene Neby (Norway)

Pamela Young (USA)

For the month of May , we welcome 2 new sponsors who have kindly donated some gorgeous prizes for our winners. 

"Enjoy Scrapping" is a Scrapbooking and Papercrafts Store in Greece that has a great variety of exceptional products for everyone who wants to make something unique! 

What makes our day is to bring a smile on someone's face through the work of an inspirational Guest Designer or through giveaways!

Scrapbooking is so much fun!! Enjoy Scrapping!!

You will find our online store HERE  and our blog HERE 

******

Scrapbook Fantasies is a Scrapbooking, Papercrafts and Mixed Media store opened in March 2003 in Gladstone, Queensland.  The well stocked store receives new stock daily, and supports a boutique style online store HERE.  The owner Alicia runs Weekly Challanges and many other competitions giving away over $250 dollars in store vouchers every month.  The GALLERY  hosts thousands of customer creations, and is available for viewing without login. Parcels are posted within Australia at a flat $8.50 or the actual postage rate (whichever is the lesser), or FREE for orders over $65.  International parcels are posted at the actual postage rate.

******

Now here are our permanent ongoing sponsors for 2012. 

C'est Magnifique Kits is a US based company whose kits predominantly feature 'hard to find' international papers from Denmark, Poland, France and many other countries. We have also featured embellishments from Australia, the UK, Poland and more.  We strive to always be 'different' than other kit clubs and feel you will love our elegant and sophisticated touch.

You can find out website HERE and our forums HERE . To find out how you can join our club click HERE. 

*****

Imaginarium designs,  is a new chipboard company founded in 2010. It is the combined collaboration of  a Mother and Son team who both work in the paper craft industry.

Please visit the blog for inspiration and to see what the design team has been up to   http://www.imaginariumdesigns.blogspot.com/ and you can  purchase this amazing chipboard  at Seriously Scrapbooking (they ship anywhere in the world at actual postage cost)

******

"Berry71bleu is an Etsy shop owned by Marivic Clifton. We specialize in custom and premade embellished hang tags, scrapbook pages, and altered gift ideas with a vintage flair. Each handmade item is unique and embellished with vintage or modern replica findings that goes perfectly with what we sell. We also accept custom orders. Pls visit our etsy shop,http://www.etsy.com/shop/berry71bleu/ or email berry71bleu@gmail.com for more information. Check out our blog, http://berry71bleu.blogspot.com/ for inspiration from our Design Team".

And the owner, Marivic Clifton is opening up a brand new etsy shop called Zeus and Zoe at the end of the month. Check out the blog HERE 

****

Julia Cotrim's hand made papers and fabrics (12"x12") are unique and very special.

The patterned papers are texturized and printed on a very thick cardstock.

The patterned fabrics look like canvas and coordinate with the papers.

Our studio is located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Our website: http://juliacotrimscrapbooking.com.br/

We are SO lucky to have so many people wanting to support our site and our challenges, and this makes me so happy to be able to offer more prizes to our winners. 

Due to this, we will change the way we give out prizes from here on. I am happy to announce that we will have more than one winner here at Once Upon A..Sketch depending on how many prizes we have to give away. SO from this month onward our Top 5 layouts will include the winner and they will all receive a prize. 

Then we will also have more featured layout on top of our Top 5. There are just TOO many gorgeous layouts to limit them to just a few. 

So the winner of this challenge with the most points, as voted by the Design Team will be invited to be our GUEST DESIGNER in July and create along side our Design Team. This person will also win this fabulous prize from Enjoy Scrapping ...

Be You Combo Kit

(album kit 18x23 cm. Includes 50 blank pages, 15 pockets for photo keeping, an extra 15 pockets for memory keeping. Embellishments include, 12 pages of patterned paper, 10 cards, cover pages, 1 sticker sheet and 1 alphabet sticker sheet)

The following prizes will be given to the next 4 winning layouts. 

An Echo Park mini kit from Enjoy Scrapping .

TWO ribbon packs (for 2 winners) from Scrapbooking Fantasies . Each prize is valued at over $40AUS each and contains 71 half metre lengths of ribbons, trims and lace in shades of pink, brown, cream and gold from quality brands such as Prima, Maya Road, Websters Pages, May Arts, Vandoros, Green Tara and Birch Australia, including international postage!! 

A US$20.00 store gift card from C'est Magnifique Kit Club + FREE postage to anywhere in the world + add any other item in the store at NO extra postage cost from C'est Magnifique kit club. 

Of course we do not forget our random winners. These are the prizes up for grabs for our RANDOMLY drawn entries..

*example

A chipboard pack from Imaginarium Designs.

*example

A handmade tag from Berry71Bleu.

A fabric and paper set from the Oh girl! collection from Julia Cotrim Scrapbooking PLUS a decorated canvas collection.

**This is an international blog, so anyone can enter

**You are free to combine Once Upon A..Sketch challenges with other challenges. We don't mind at all!!!

**You are allowed to enter only layouts  for our challenges

**You are also allowed to flip or rotate the sketch or alter it to suit your needs, but please make sure its still recognisable.

**Post your creation on your blog or an online gallery and link it on the right hand side of this blog using the Link tool. Please provide a direct link to your post, not your entire blog.If the link tool is down, please leave a comment on the comments section and link your layout there.

** The deadline for this challenge is midnight May 31st, Australian Eastern Standard Time . The Design Team will vote and the Top 5 layouts PLUS Top 5 featured layouts will be announced soon after the challenge has finished.

**You may enter as many times as you like

**Also, please consider turning off word verification for comments on your blog.

For a complete list of the rules please see the top of this page.

Challenge Reminder..

Hey everyone! Feel strange that things have been a little quiet here on the blog with our new *monthly* challenges. I somehow feel like I need to post something here, or announce something or whatever LOL! But its all good..life is just so busy and I think having 1 moth to complete our challenge works well for both you and I. 

So just letting you all know that the current challenge ends midnight April 30th (Australian Eastern Standard Time) so that means you have a little under a week to enter. We have some AWESOME prizes up for grabs this time and remember that we will also be selecting some featured layouts! 

Take care everyone and have a great week ahead :)

 The theme of this challenge is HOME. 

We would like you to create a layout and interpret the theme "HOME" however you like based on the following sketch. You can journal as little or as much as you like, but your layout must incorporate this theme  and this sketch. 

C'est Magnifique Kits is a US based company whose kits predominantly feature 'hard to find' international papers from Denmark, Poland, France and many other countries. We have also featured embellishments from Australia, the UK, Poland and more.  We strive to always be 'different' than other kit clubs and feel you will love our elegant and sophisticated touch.

You can find out website HERE and our forums HERE . To find out how you can join our club click HERE. 

*******

Imaginarium designs,  is a new chipboard company founded in 2010. It is the combined collaboration of  a Mother and Son team who both work in the paper craft industry.

Please visit the blog for inspiration and to see what the design team has been up to   http://www.imaginariumdesigns.blogspot.com/ and you canpurchase this amazing chipboard  at Seriously Scrapbooking (they ship anywhere in the world at actual postage cost)

******

"Berry71bleu is an Etsy shop owned by Marivic Clifton. We specialize in custom and premade embellished hang tags, scrapbook pages, and altered gift ideas with a vintage flair. Each handmade item is unique and embellished with vintage or modern replica findings that goes perfectly with what we sell. We also accept custom orders. Pls visit our etsy shop,http://www.etsy.com/shop/berry71bleu/ or email berry71bleu@gmail.com for more information. Check out our blog, http://berry71bleu.blogspot.com/ for inspiration from our Design Team".

And the owner, Marivic Clifton is opening up a brand new etsy shop called Zeus and Zoe at the end of the month. Check out the blog HERE 

****

Julia Cotrim's hand made papers and fabrics (12"x12") are unique and very special.

The patterned papers are texturized and printed on a very thick cardstock.

The patterned fabrics look like canvas and coordinate with the papers.

Our studio is located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Our website: http://juliacotrimscrapbooking.com.br

The winner of this challenge as chosen by the Design team will win the gorgeous April kit from C'est magnifique kit club.

A Bouquet of Happiness

Contents:  papers from The ScrapCake (My Private Happiness) , Dusty Attic - Corner Flourish #1, Kaisercraft - Chipboard Alpha, Divine Twine - Yellow, Prima - Large Bird Houses, Kaisercraft - Hanging, Plaques Wood Flourishes, Americana - Lemon Yellow Paint, Melissa Frances - Attic Treasure Bags, Wild Orchid - White Gypsophelia, Wild Orchid - Pink/Cream Roses, Green Tara - Acrylic Butterfly, Green Tara - Wide Lace, Green Tara -  Turquoise Mini Rosebuds, Wrights -Hot Pink Ruffled Grosgrain

Our FANTASTIC sponsor, Imaginarium Designs, is giving away this BEAUTIFUL pack of chipboard to one randomly chosen entry..

**example of chipboard you could receive

Our sponso0 Berry71Bleu is also giving away a gorgeous handmade tag to a randomly chosen entry

**example of the tag you could win

We also have a paper and fabric collection from Oh girl! collection from Julia Cotrim Scrapbooking to giveaway to the one more randomly chosen entry. 

**This is an international blog, so anyone can enter

**You are free to combine Once Upon A..Sketch challenges with other challenges. We don't mind at all!!!

**You are allowed to create only layouts  for our challenges

**You are also allowed to flip or rotate the sketch or alter it to suit your needs, but please make sure its still recognisable.

**Post your creation on your blog or an online gallery and link it on the right hand side of this blog using the Link tool. Please provide a direct link to your post, not your entire blog.If the link tool is down, please leave a comment on the comments section and link your layout there.

** The deadline for this challenge is midnight April 30th, Australian Eastern Standard Time . The Design Team will vote and the winner and the Top 5 project will be announced soon after the challenge has finished.

**You may enter as many times as you like

**Also, please consider turning off word verification for comments on your blog.

For a complete list of the rules please see the top of this page.