December 15th Challenge

Hi everyone! Welcome to another challenge here at Once Upon A Sketch...Its 10 days until Christmas! Can you believe it? 

December 15th Challenge

Journalling Criteria/theme: Our Christmas traditions. 

We would love to hear how everyone spends Christmas Day. Even if you do NOT celebrate Christmas, what do you do on Christmas Day?

Remember that you are allowed to also create a card or altered project based on this sketch and instead of the journalling criteria you need to use a quote. 

Guest Designers

Ivana Camdzic  (Canada) 

Ivana says: "The quote I used doesn't have too much to do with Christmas, but since the only family we have here in Canada is our friends, we spend the holidays with them and that is one of our new traditions during the holidays. So I decided to create a card about friendship"

Our runner up from our November 15th Challenge

Rachael Funnell  (Australia) 

THANK YOU so much Ivana and Rachael for being our Guest Designers this month...this BUSY and CRAZY month! We loved having you here and hope to see you again. 

Design Team

(please click on their names to be directed to their blog)

Natalie May (Australia) 

**Imaginarium Designs Chipboard border and title

Heather Jacob (Australia) 

**Imaginarium Designs chipboard title "Together"

Natalie Elphinstone (Australia)

**Imaginarium Designs branch

Georgia Heald (Australia) 

**Imaginarium Designs Flourish

Larissa Albernaz (Brazil) 

Jasmine Shea (Australia) 

** Imaginarium Designs border

LG Belarmino (The Philippines) 

Bente Fagerberg (Sweden) 

**Imaginarium Designs chipboard and Les Papiers de Pandore "En Attendent" papers

Mai Kosugi (Japan) 

Sponsors and Prizes

We welcome one more sponsor to our blog this month!

Les Papiers De Pandore 

Les Papiers de Pandore is a small French manufacturer, born in early 2010.

Earth friendly, we try to respect our environment by using recycled papers, vegetable inks, and by printing locally in Provence.

Proud of its "French touch", the brand features classical designs in soft colors.

It is SUPER exciting to have you sponsor us this month!The winner of this challenge, as chosen by the Design Team will receive these 2 paper lines from Les Papiers De Pandore!

           

                 

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One more sponsor for our November 15th challenge is the amazing Australian chipboard company Imaginarium Designs . They have been so generous to sponsor us all year with their beautiful chipboard and you can purchase it through Seriously Scrpabooking. They are giving away this gorgeous chipboard collection to one randomly chosen winner. 

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Handmade By Suzanne

One lucky person, chosen randomly,  will receive this prize from Handmade By Suzanne!

Tim Holtz Alterations Embossing Folder Set (Dot Matrix)

Thank you Les Papiers De Pandore, Imaginarium Designs and Handmade By Suzanne for sponsoring our challenges this month! We couldn't do this without you. 

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Things to consider when playing along...

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

**You are allowed to create a card, layout or off-the-page item based on the provided sketch and additional journalling criteria. If you are creating a card or altered item you only need to include a quote.

**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 sidebar 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 December 31st, Australian Eastern Standard Time . The Design Team will vote and the winners and the Top 5 project will be announced soon after the challenge has finished.

**You may enter as many times as you like and combine this with other challenges.

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

More Inspiration From Our Sponsor

Hey everyone. How are you going with the current challenge? You still have plenty of time left, but I wanted to share with you some awesome work from the Design Team from our current sponsor Handmade By Suzanne!

December 1st Challenge

Journalling Criteria/theme: The thing I look most forward to in December.

Write at least 2 sentences on what you look forward to in the next month. December is a festive month so your journalling could be about the Christmas season, the holidays, the presents or if you do not celebrate Christmas what does December bring for you that you look most forward to? Note:You layout DOES NOT have to be about Christmas! It can be about anything December brings.

Other ideas for journalling: an annual holiday or celebration, a specific event such as putting up the Christmas tree or pre Christmas traditions you might have leading up to Christmas, family time, snow covered fields or warmer weather, time off work, school holidays, change of weather, new season fruit.

Handmade By Suzanne Design Team Inspiration

(for further details click on their names to be directed to their blog)

Charmane Koch 

 Linda Eggleton 

Marelize Frisby 

Suzanne McGregor

Here is one from our own Design Team, which unfortunately I could not upload at the December 1st reveal 

Patti Hamil (USA) 

Thank you ladies! Your work is just beautiful. 

I hope you all have been inspired just a little more because there are some fantastic prizes up for grabs this time!

The winner of this challenge, as chosen by the Design Team, will win a spot on our Design Team for the month of January. As well as that, the winner will also receive a AUD$20.00 voucher (plus FREE shipping) to spend in the store at Handmade By Suzanne who is ALSO having a 20% sale storewide ALL of December!!

Here at Once Upon A...Sketch we LOVE to encourage EVERYONE to participate, even those that are fairly new to scrapbooking so this is why we like to offer some prizes for RANDOMLY chosen winner so that everyone feels like they have a chance to win!

One lucky person will receive this prize from Handmade By Suzanne!

Tim Holtz Alterations Embossing Folder Set (Collage)

And one lucky person will win this..

A set of My Mind's Eye 6 x 6 paper pads in 4 different collections. 

****

Things to consider when playing along...

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

**You are allowed to create a card, layout or off-the-page item based on the provided sketch and additional journalling criteria. If you are creating a card or altered item you only need to include a quote.

**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 sidebar 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 December14th, Australian Eastern Standard Time . The Design Team will vote and the winners and the Top 5 project will be announced soon after the challenge has finished.

**You may enter as many times as you like and combine this with other challenges.

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

November 15th Challenge **WINNERS**

One word...WOW! Is that even a word? I do not know, but how else can I describe the quality of work we witnessed here in the past fortnight? What about the incredible way you all described your role as a woman in today's world? From mother, to wife to grandmother, to fashionista ...one WORD came through on all 73 entries "STRENGTH" . Yes as women we are STRONG and we KNOW it! I personally visited ALL 73 entries as did the Design Team, and read each and everyone's journalling and I discovered just how strong us women can be from all walks of life and from every part of the world. I thoroughly enjoyed your work everyone and I loved learning so much about all of you and in many way I saw my self in so much of your journalling. 

This leaves us with one little problem..HOW on earth is the Design Team supposed to pick only a few? This challenge was by far the hardest for the Design Team to pick their favorites. It is virtually impossible and I just want you to know that everyone commented on the outstanding standard of entries. Keep up the good work everyone and please do not be discouraged if you did not win this time. 

The winner of this challenge, which was a favourite amongst all the Design Team for her incredible work, attention to detail, as well as her very deep and meaningful journalling and blog post is ...

Sabrina Sulaiman from Singapore

Sabrina, we were all in awe of this layout. What we were most impressed with was the creative way you chose to do your journalling. We have always loved your work, but the Design Team was simply stunned by this layout and in a word "you aced it!". Well done. 

You have won this badge to display on your blog proudly!

You have also won this this embellishment collection from BasicGrey's Jovial line

Please email me at nadiac78@hotmail.com to claim your prize! Congratulations Sabrina!!

Top 5 featured layouts

(in winning order) 

Lisa Novogrodski from the USA

(Lisa had hidden journalling on the top left of the circle)

Katerina Lailopoulou  (from Greece) 

(Katerina also had hidden journalling on the right hand side of this layout under the butterflies)

Agnieska Be from Poland 

Svetlana (from South Africa) 

and tied for 5th spot were 

Charmane Koch from Australia

and

Linda from Norway 

HUGE congratulations girls! Your work is just stunning. Here is your badge to display to your blogs!

Now its time too announce the RANDOMLY drawn winners of the 2 prizes we had to give away..

The winner of the gorgeous chipboard pack from Imaginarium Designs is

Lisa Barrie from the USA who entered this beauty..

The winner of the embellishment pack from The Chip Chop Shop is 

Anna M. Woleben from South Africa who submitted this BEAUTIFUL layout!

(Anna had hidden journalling rolled up in the paper)

CONGRATULATIONS Lisa and Anna. Please contact Patti at phamil@live.com to claim your prizes. When emailing please state which prize you won. 

Have a great day everyone!

December 1st Challenge + Meet our December Guest Designer **IVANA CAMDZIC*

Welcome everyone to another challenge here at Once Upon A...Sketch. We are already in December and the end of the year is just around the corner.

December 1st Challenge

Journalling Criteria/theme: The thing I look most forward to in December.

Write at least 2 sentences on what you look forward to in the next month. December is a festive month so your journalling could be about the Christmas season, the holidays, the presents or if you do not celebrate Christmas what does December bring for you that you look most forward to? Note:You layout DOES NOT have to be about Christmas! It can be about anything December brings.

Other ideas for journalling: an annual holiday or celebration, a specific event such as putting up the Christmas tree or pre Christmas traditions you might have leading up to Christmas, family time, snow covered fields or warmer weather, time off work, school holidays, change of weather, new season fruit.

Guest Designers

It is so wonderful to have this person here as our Guest for December! Please welcome the super talented ..

Ivana Camdzic from Canada

 Hi! My name is Ivana Camdzic. I am 26 years old, I live in Saskatoon, Canada, and I have always enjoyed paper crafting even before I knew it really existed. I started modern-day scrapbooking in 2004 during my University studies as a creative outlet to balance all the hectic schoolwork. Little did I know that it was the start of a serious addiction.  In my life now, not a day goes by without me scrapbooking! I am blessed to be managing our local scrapbook store and I have also been blessed to design for several wonderful companies, such as Webster’s Pages, Scrap That!, Scrapbook Studio and The Craft’s Meow.  I love every minute of what I do and I’m so happy to be able to inspire others doing what I love!

My blog: Paper Girl Crafts

Ivana says: the reason I chose the "home is..." quote is because the thing I look most forward to in Dec. is going home for the holidays! :)

Our winner from our last challenge, Melenia Agapides from Greece , was unfortunately unable to create something in time due to pre-arranged commitments. She was stressed out and because I really did not want her , or anyone, to miss out on having her turn as GDT here at Once Upon A...Sketch, I asked if she wanted to be our Guest Designer in January and she accepted! I also asked the very talented person that was second placed in our last challenge if she would like to be our Guest Designer for December, and she also accepted! Everyone happy!! So please welcome..

Rachael Funnell from Australia

Hi! My name is Rachael Funnell & I’ll turn 35 years young in mid January 2012!!! I live with my wonderful hubby (Jason) & our 2 Gorgeous Kids (Ethan & Chloee) in Central NSW Australia! I’ve been scrapbooking for about 6 years, on & Off.. BUT for the Last 18 Months, scrapbooking has become a daily pleasure in my life......I really enjoy capturing & documenting all those moments in life that I share with my family & friends!! And if you ask my family they would tell you that... I have become a bit of a scrapaholic & photoholic!!! LOL!

Also! I would like to SHOUT OUT a big THANK YOU to the BEAUTIFUL Nadia for giving me this AWESOME opportunity..... I have had a BLAST!!!

drop by my blog sometime: A window To My Scrapping World

And here is Rachael's take on our challenge..

Thank you to our awesome Guest Designers for your outstanding work!

Design Team

(please click on their names to be directed to their blog)

Irma Peredne (USA)

Irini Liolia (Greece)

* Imaginarium Designs, Alphas, numbers, train, swirl and little boy reading..

Vicky Varvadouka (Greece)

Jeni O'Connor (Australia/Canada)

**Imaginarium Designs chipboard oval frame.

Lene Neby (Norway)

Pamela Young (USA) 

Vibeke Harila (Norway) 

Nadia Cannizzo (Australia) 

Sponsors and Prizes

We welcome a BRAND new sponsor to our blog this month! 

Handmade By Suzanne

HandmadeBy Suzanne is a Perth, Western Australia based Scrapbooking and Craft online retailer.  Stocking an extensive range of the latest beautiful and exciting released scrapbooking and craft products. 

With over 3,500 products online and growing there isn’t much in scrapbooking and craft that we don’t sell!  Our brands include – Kaisercraft, Bo Bunny, Webster’s Pages, Prima, Hambly Screen Prints, Dusty Attic, October Afternoon, Martha Stewart,  Crate Paper, Cheery Lynn, Sizzix - just to name a fraction!

First time customers receive 15% discount off their 1^st order.  Simply register and you will receive an immediate e-mail with the details of how to claim your discount.

HBS offers competitive prices, professional service and fast dispatch of your orders.  Orders under $50 are shipped for just $5 flat rate or shipped FREE for orders over $50.  Express Post is also available .  

International Customer?  Yes we ship overseas and for a flat rate of AUD$20 you can access all our wonderful online scrapbooking products and have them posted to your door.  Where the cost of posting is less than $20 we will refund automatically.

And what better timing to have Handmade By Suzanne sponsor us than the month of December, which is their BIRTHDAY SALE month!

Birthday Sale Starts Now! 20% Off Storewide

Handmade By Suzanne is 2 years old in December and to celebrate we are having a month long sale – there is 20% off all items storewide with the exception of the very latest arrivals the previous week 

(No Free Shipping, all orders will have a $5 flat rate postage charge, 1st Order Discounts cannot be applied and no further discount on the sale categories.)

Thank you Handmade By Suzanne for sponsoring our challenges this month!

The winner of this challenge, as chosen by the Design Team, will win a spot on our Design Team for the month of January. As well as that, the winner will also receive a AUD$20.00 voucher (plus FREE shipping) to spend in the store at Handmade By Suzanne!

Here at Once Upon A...Sketch we LOVE to encourage EVERYONE to participate, even those that are fairly new to scrapbooking so this is why we like to offer some prizes for RANDOMLY chosen winner so that everyone feels like they have a chance to win!

One lucky person will receive this prize from Handmade By Suzanne!

Tim Holtz Alterations Embossing Folder Set (Collage)

And one lucky person will win this..

A set of My Mind's Eye 6 x 6 paper pads in 4 different collections. 

****

Things to consider when playing along...

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

**You are allowed to create a card, layout or off-the-page item based on the provided sketch and additional journalling criteria. If you are creating a card or altered item you only need to include a quote.

**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 sidebar 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 December14th, Australian Eastern Standard Time . The Design Team will vote and the winners and the Top 5 project will be announced soon after the challenge has finished.

**You may enter as many times as you like and combine this with other challenges.

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

***GIVEAWAY WINNER***

WOW! What a response. That gorgeous Melissa Frances kit from Scrap That! was VERY popular indeed. I am SO thankful to you all for your support ..THANK YOU to everyone who took the time to enter our giveaway. How I wish I could have an endless supply of prizes to give away to EVERYONE! Always makes me so sad when only 1 person wins, even though that is the whole point of a giveaway! But, still I wish I would give something to EVERYONE. 

OK OK enough talk..WHO won it? 

Out of 178 entries..the lucky number that was selected by random.org was

#85

HUGE congratulations go to ....

AMALIA TSOUKIA from Greece!!!

Amalia...TODAY IS YOUR LUCKY DAY!! What a good feeling it must be to picked out of SO many people?Please email me at nadiac78@hotmail.com with your details to claim your prize. Again CONGRATS and thank you SO much everyone to entering. 

xoxo Nadia.