June Challenge **WINNERS**

Hi everyone. Its time to announce the winners from last months challenge. The Design Team has looked at all your layouts and the votes are in. I apologise that its taking longer to announce the winners these days, but there are just too many beautiful entries and its always hard to pick just a few. The Design Team likes to take their time and they really look at all the layouts in detail. I hope you understand :) 

Starting with our Top 5 winners in winning order. 

(can all winners please email Patti at phamil@live.com with their full name and address and prize they won within 7 days!!. Also can the Top 5 winners please get their winners badge from the sidebar of our blog :) Thank you ) 

Zuzia Bodakowska (Poland) 

 The entry which received the most points by the design team is this beautiful layout by Zuzia from Poland. Such a striking picture set on this simple but so elegant layout! Well done Zuzia. You are invited to be our Guest Designer in September (please email Georgia hericarusempire@bigpond.com) and you have also won a beautiful kit from our main sponsor Zeus and Zoe .

Helen Tilbury (South Africa) 

Now here is a familiar face! Helen is one of our past Design Team members who has stayed loyal to us. Well Helen the design team LOVED your layout. It might have been the last one added to the gallery but boy did it stand out to us. Perfect picture..amazing flower cluster and honest journalling! Well done! You have won your self a 7Dots kit from C' est Magnifique kit club!!! Lucky you. 

Lynnda Hosni (Australia) 

Oh another loyal fan of Once Upon A..Sketch. Lynnda has been with us since the beginning and I am so happy she is being recognised :) Your layout was just stunning Lynnda. That paint dripping and the white space, together with the beautiful journalling made this one a winner. You have also won a paper kit from Julia Cotrim Scrapbooking. 

Amelia Khalik (Malaysia) 

Amelia we loved the artsy and tiny bit messy look to your layout. The alphabet background is striking and the little details and splatter of paint here and there make this a beautiful layout visually while your simple journalling is all that is needed . Well done! You have won your self a a $10.00 voucher from The Scrap Locker. 

Alicia Redshaw (Australia) 

Now this one has to be seen to be believed so I encourage you to click on Alicia's name to see just how she included her hidden journalling. VERY clever Alicia. We loved your layout simply because its bright and happy and just perfect for our theme. This is a perfect birthday layout. Fantastic work! You are very lucky to have won a pack of Imaginarium Designs chipboard!! Enjoy! 

Now here are a few more that caught our eye and very nearly made it to the Top 5!

Maria Tsilvidou (Greece) 

Yumi Takasaki (Japan) 

Kelly Foster (USA) 

Chantelle Huizenga (Australia) 

Celeste Vermeed (Australia) 

Johanna Rol-Middelbos (The Netherlands) 

Anupama Choudary (India) 

Well done ladies! You can grab one of our FEATURED badges from the sidebar of our blog. 

Now we have 3 RANDOMLY chosen winners! I have used random.org to choose these winners. 

The 2 people that win the ribbon pack from Scrapbooking Fantasies are Veronica Nash and Maria Tsimirika. 

The person that wins the handmade tag from Bery71Bleu is Riika Kovasin !

Congratulations to all the winners. Please do not forget to email Patti at phamil@live.com with your full name and address and prize you won within 7 days!!

More Design Team Introductions

For our current challenge please go HERE 

***************************************************************************************

Hi everyone!

This is the last of the new team members introductions. . I hope you have enjoyed getting to know them a little bit more.




Elena Stefanidou (Greece) 




I am Elena Stefanidou and I live in Greece.I work as an English teacher in a state primary school.I like taking photos,reading and surfing the intenet.Last year I discovered scrapbooking and I 've been  really obsessed with my pretty papers ever since.I am really really  happy being a member of OUAS DT.Actually I still can't believe it.This is a big thing for me and I intend to enjoy it as much as I can!Here is my blog: In Between Days





Eila Sandberg (Sweden) 




Hi! My name is Eila Sandberg and I live in Sweden's capital called Stockholm on the east coast by the Baltic Sea. My family is a small one; it's me and my very supportive and patient husband Bengt and our 3 cats - Max, Alice and Elsa. I have a grown-up stepdaughter Emelie, whom you will see in some of my layouts. My friends kindly let me scrap their children if I need willing guinea pigs for a layout.My roots are Finnish but I was born and raised in Sweden.I've been sort of dabbling with scrapping since 2009 but more seriously so since 2010. Scrapping is a wonderful way for me to gain balance and happiness in my otherwise very stressful office life. I work fulltime outside of our home.I scrap mainly 12 x 12 layouts and you will always see fussy cutting and flowers on my pages. I devour English crime novels and love BBC TV series and milk chocolate. Inspectors Morse and Lynley are my kind of coppers! If I don't get a big mug of coffee with milk in the morning I get very cranky.I have the privilege of being a DT member of the Australian challenge sites The Color Room and Meg’s Garden, and CSI Color..Stories..Inspiration in the US.  I am honoured beyond words and rather nervous to be part of this awesome team!

My blog: http://www.dollopsofscrap.blogspot.com/






Melenia Agapides (Greece) 




Hello everyone! I feel honoured and very happy to become part of this wonderful team (thanks to Nadia)!  I’m Melenia Agapides, I live in Greece with my DH and two kids!  I work at the local airport as an airport authority officer.  I got into the magical world of scrapbooking back in 2009 and from then on I have been scrapping like crazy!  I am a DT member of Bird is The Word, Get Creative and Memories Trend, and some of my creations have been published in magazines and ebooks.I love colours and shapes, which I always try to combine harmoniously!  I also love to tell stories and to express thoughts and dreams, through my pages.  In this way I seek to store all the precious memories that can so easily be forgotten over time and in the stress of everyday life.  My purpose is always to achieve balance and harmony in everything I create!  

My blog: http://melenia313.blogspot.com.au/








Jolaine Frias (USA) 





Hello! My name is Jolaine Frias. I am a school teacher and mom to a 3 year old sweet little boy and a 7 year old delightful little girl. They sure keep me busy but I love being a mom and wouldn’t trade it for world! I have been married for 11 years to a very loving and supportive man, and together; we live in the beautiful Hudson Valley region in New York. I have been scrapbooking since my daughter was born and I’m now absolutely in love with this wonderful hobby. Paper crafts have allowed me to combine my love for crafting and photography while documenting unique family memories.I guess I can describe my style of scrapbooking as eclectic, sometimes shabby chic and romantic, sometimes vintage and a bit grungy, but I always like to include lots of layers and details in my pages.  Besides making layouts, I also enjoy creating mini albums and altered art.I’m currently in the Design Teams for My Creative Scrapbook kit club and Glitz Design. I am so excited and proud to be joining OUAS, a huge thank you to Nadia for welcoming me into this amazing and creative community.My Blog: Jolainefrias.blogspot.com

Solagne Marques (Brazil)







I am Solange Marques, and I live in Curitiba, Brazil,  with my husband, João, and some of my children. I have five children : Camila, Alexandre, Bruno, Gabriela, Miguel and two  grandchildren: Clara and  Samuel. They are always present  in my creations. I am graduated  in architecture and fine arts, but I have been  working in a Bank for 23 years as an appraiser of jewelry.I have  been in  love with Arts and Crafts since I was a child . I discovered  Scrapbooking in 2004 and today I am totally crazy about it.I love to use paints and texture in my layouts and I melt the photos with the background. I love mixing  a lot of techniques  and products in my pages  such as acrylic paints, watercolor, stamps, modeling paste and acrylic gesso.I love the artsy style! My Blog : Solagne Marques


Renata Moni (Brazil)




My name is Renata Moni Bidin. I am Brazilian, married and mother of a 6 year old boy named Guilherme, and he is my inspiration. I started scrapbooking after my son was born. Since then, I am in love with scissors and papers! Now I am a SAHM and I feel so blessed to be able to spend so much time with him. Scrapbooking for me is more than a hobby. It’s my therapy.Of course, I love to create something memorable for my family, but I must confess, the creative process is the best part for me, because that is when I can play and have fun! I adore trying new techniques and new products! So glad to be in this amazing team!My blog: Keeping My Memories







Romy Veul (The Netherlands) 



My name is Romy and I'm a 19-year-old scrapaholic from the Netherlands. I study Dutch language & linguistics in Amsterdam and when I'am not studying, I love to be creative in some way. Since primary school I have always had a creative hobby (making jewelry, 3D cards, flower arranging), but after a while I was always looking for something new. That was until I was put in touch with scrapbooking. What a wonderful way to combine my love for creativity and my passion for photos. I am still hooked to creating both layouts and cards and photography has grown into a hobby too! I love to try different styles: from shabby chic & vintage to bold & colourful, though I tend to love the shabby chic/vintage style the most lately. No matter what style I try, I almost always incorporate lots of layers and details in my work. I think they are my signature. I am currently designing for Bo Bunny, My Creative Scrapbook, Scrap for Help, Scrapping Outback and Simpel Scrappen. I have been a fan of Once Upon a Sketch since the very first challenge. This is such an inspiring and encouraging challenge blog. I feel truly honoured to be part of such a wonderful and talented group of ladies and I can't wait to get started.My Blog : Scrapstuff And More

July Challenge

Well the time has finally come to see the beautiful creations of our  new team. How exciting! As always this is half the team (team A) that will reveal their work today, while the other half of the team will show us their creations on the 15th of the month. 

Here is to new beginnings!! Let's get started with a brand new challenge..

Theme: Friend

We would like you to create a layout and interpret the theme "Friend" 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 below. Please make sure that we see some sort of journalling on your layouts and please tell us where your journalling is . Hidden journalling is perfectly fine. 

Ideas for journalling: one of your current friends, a childhood friend, an unexpected friendship,what having friends mean for you, a friend that you miss or have lost, family member who is your closest friend, a scrappy/online  friend,  a special person that has touched your life, someone who has helped you out lately, a friend that you couldn't do without, your children's friends / classmates etc., your pet and the friendship you have with it..

Vicky Alberto (Canada)

*hidden journalling on the back of  the layout

Cathy Cafun (Australia)  

***Ribbon from Scrapbooking Fantasies used on the hidden journaling tag

Jeni O'Connor -(Australia /Canada)

Georgia Heald - (Australia)

*Imaginarium Designs butterfly, flourish & birdcage

Kelly Foster (USA)

Romy Veul (The Netherlands)

Luzma Bruna (Chile)

Mona Pendleton (USA)

Anna Zaprzelska/Brises (Poland)

**Hidden journalling on a pull-out  tag behind the doilies

Renata Moni (Brazil)

Erin Blegen (USA)

**Hidden journaling on the tag to the left of the photo**

Tina Walker (USA)

**Hidden journaling in an envelope behind the photo**

Florence Teixeira - France 

Svetlana Austin (South Africa)

REMOVED FOR PUBLICATION

We have 2 new featured sponsors this month. 

The first one is a gorgeous etsy shop by one of our newest Design Team member's Kay Fatula. Please welcome to Once Upon A...Sketch Kay's Kreative Korner. 

Arts & crafts has been my guilty pleasure since the first time I picked up a crayon.  With time, my love of crafts ventured into drawing, altering items, painting, stamping & finally scrapbooking.  Kay's Kreative Korner was opened in 2009.  It began simply as a way of sharing a few of my handmade items.  I opened my shop with a couple of handstamped cards & a few pre made scrapbook pages.  Within a year, I stopped making cards and decided to sell embellishments--specifically butterflies.  I've always admired the butterfly & what it symbolizes.  Change, transformation, a new start, beginnings...with this concept I started making scrapbook embellishments based on existing butterflies from all around the world.  Today I carry a couple of unique scrapbook embellishments.  In addition to the butterflies I specialize in vines & beaded flowers.  I make each item with much TLC and careful precison.  My greatest reward is seeing how others use my embellishments on thier own projects & pages...

Direct link to shop:

http://www.karlaskreativekorner.etsy.com

The second new sponsor for July is a new online store called Scrap Locker

Scrap Locker is a brand new online scrapbooking store with a huge variety of products from many favorite manufacturers including Tim Holts, Prima Marketing, Zva Creative and many more. Scrap Locker also has many handmade items. Some of the handmade items include crochet flowers, bead sprays and albums. Scrap Locker ships to many international locations. Scrap Locker also has a gallery and would love for you to fill out a gallery inclusion form and share your crafty inspiration with fellow scrapbookers. Check us out today at www.scraplocker.com

Now here are our permanent sponsors for 2012. For more information please see our sidebar. 

How would you like to be our Guest Designer for the month of September?  The winner of this challenge with the most points, as voted by the Design Team will be invited to be our GUEST DESIGNER in September and create along side our Design Team. This person will also win this fabulous prize from Kay's Kreative Korner 

Prize consists of 2 mini embellishment kits (kits are called Desert Rose & Purple Rain).  Both mini embellishment kits contain 1 vine, 1 five inch stick pin & 3 coordinating butterflies.  One set of Auburn Rain beaded flowers (3 flowers in this set) & one set of Delicate Pink beaded flowers (2 flowers in this set).  All beaded flowers measure approximately 1 1/4" in diameter.  One set of 'glass' G1 butterfly embellishments.  These butterflies are made out of transparency & coordinate with just about any page or project.  Large butterfly measures approximately 3" inches in diameter. Medium butterfly measures about 2 1/4" inches in width & the smallest butterfly measures approximately 1 3/4" inches in diameter. **Measurement based on widest wing span**  Finally one set of Cinnamon Owl butterfly embellishments.  Largest butterfly measures approximately 2 1/2" inches in diameter. Medium butterfly measures about 2" inches in diameter & smallest butterfly measures 1 1/2" inches in diameter. **Measurements based on widest wing span**

The following prizes will be given to the next 4 winning entries

Mini June kit from C' est Magnifique kit club

Scrapbooking Fantasies has donated TWO ribbon packs (for 2 winners) from Scrapbooking Fantasies . Each prize is valued at over $10AUS each and contains 25 half metre lengths of ribbons, trims and lace in shades of pink and aqua from quality brands, plus FREE international postage!!

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

**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 July 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.

Meet Flo, Kim, Evgenia, Ania, Tina and Vicky!

Flo Teixeira (France) 

 My name is Florence Teixeira aka Floliescrap. I’m living in France with my husband and we have two children, Ruben and Emy. I have been scrapbooking since 2007. Scrapbooking has turned into my life one of my biggest passions, I enjoy creating layouts and altered objects. My daughter is very often seen on my projects because my style is more feminine but I also love to create stories about my son. I like design my ideas and create what I had imagined at the beginning especially for 3D projects. I generally spends much time on each creation, especially if it presents a picture to express my feelings better. Adding details and dimensions to my papercrafts is my favorite part. Embellishments are very important to me and more particularly flowers, stitching and cut-outs. I proudly design for ScrapCake, Scrapbook Adhesives, EmbelliScrap, EsKiss design and Scrap Mouset.I am so excited to be part of this amazing team !!! 

My Blog: Floliescrap Creations

Kim Jeffress (Australia)

Hi my name is Kim Jeffress and I am excited to be joining the team at Once Upon a sketch.A little about me I am a former kindergarten teacher now SAHM to two little boys aged 3 and 5, they are definitely my scrapping inspiration. I am blessed to be apart of 2012 Scrapbooking Memories Masters team, this has been a dream come true.I currently design for Basic Grey, Coredinations cardstock and Elles Studio as well as my good friend Gail's handmade embellishment shop called Greatest View.The one thing that drew me to OAAS was the journalling aspect. My main reason for scrapping is recording the stories of my family, you will always find journalling on my layouts so I felt it was the perfect fit. I look forward to sharing my stories with you along the way. Here is a link to my blog : Glass Half Full

Evgenia Petzer (South Africa)

My name is Evgenia Petzer and soon I will be 28. I am a mom to a boy, 3 years old and I was born and raised in Russia, but now we live in South Afric, its a anative country of my husband. I love it here! I am a photographer, so have lots of time to stay at home and scrap.I am proud do design for Melissa Frances, Tattered Angels, UHK and FabScraps brands and also I design for 3 scrappy boys kit club.I love shabby chic style layouts, but being a mom  of boy you will see a lots of bright, "playful" layouts in my blog.Thank you so much for having me here.Here is a link to my blog http://evgeniapetzer.blogspot.com/ 

Ania Zaprzelska (Poland) 

My name is Anna Zaprzelska, also known as Brises. I live in Poland with my family (my husband and one wonderful son).I discovered scrapbooking in 2009, but did not scrap as consistently as now and never imagined that scrapbooking would become a passion, or that I would have a craft-corner in my home dedicated to the hobby... Now, I’m addicted to scrapping and enjoy creating everyday. Every little things in my life are just an other reason to create more pages. And, of course, my family has always been a great source of inspiration for me. I love photography and believe that a good photograph can tell a great story and is the beginning of a great page.My style? Layers, layers, layers and a lots of hand-cut elements. At the end - stamps! I really love stamps! I proudly design for 7 Dots Studio, Ridderholm Design, Pion Design, Galeria Rae and Bird Is the Word. I am sooooo excited to be a part of this amazing team and invite you to visit me on my blog:

http://ana-brises.blogspot.com/ 

Tina Walker  (USA)

First of all, I would like to thank Nadia for including me in the amazing and talented OUAS family.  I feel truly blessed.  I am looking forward to getting to know you better and to be able to share my love for this wonderful art form. Who am I?  Well, I created my first scrapbook over 15 years ago, but my latest obsession with scrapbooking started about 3 years ago and I haven't stopped since.  I think I am drawn to this art because of the great styles, techniques, and product that are used in scrapbooking today and that all styles are embraced and loved.I often get asked what my scrapbook style is.  A good pre-defined definition doesn't exist, so I like to use the word 'chameleon'.  I like to try new techniques and designs, so you may see pages from me that encompass the meaning of 'white space' all the way to an artsy, grungy page.Many of my layouts are of my two French bulldogs, Moose & Flikka.  My kids are grown, so they don't cooperate much with my photo taking and scrapbooking obsession, so the next best things are my four legged friends.  In addition, you might also see layouts from me of totally random and obscure objects or everything things.  These things intrigue me and I love to scrap about them. Scrapbooking also allows me to share my other obsession, photography.  They go hand in hand with each other.  My phone, (with camera) are always with me and I take a picture almost every day.Thank you again to Nadia and the OUAS community.  I look forward to days full of creating.My Blog: A Dog's Life

Vicky Alberto (Canada) 

Hi, my name is Vicky Alberto (aka Simply Paper on some gallery sites) and I live in Alberta, Canada with my husband and three children. Almost 4 years ago, after having my last child, I decided not to return to a corporate marketing job so I could raise my three young children for a while. After ten years in the marketing industry, scrapbooking was a natural extension of my work world to fill a creative void... and I was instantly hooked!

I describe my style as “a little shabby and a lot of chic”, LOL. For layout projects, I like each layout to look like a piece of art so I keep my titles short and journal on the back - to keep a clean look to my pages. I enjoy working with vintage/romantic style papers and adore adding distressed layers, doilies, chipboard and flowers to my projects. Some of my projects feature handmade flowers and my tutorials are all listed on my blog (quick links in the right sidebar).My blog address is http://simplypaperandcreativity.blogspot.com/ where I chat about my work, the fantastic companies I design for, and share my flower tutorials. I have been blogging for two years and am overwhelmed that I already have so many wonderful followers. This industry has such a deeply supportive and kind online network of ladies. I have “met” the most amazing people from all over the world through various online communities and have had the opportunity to "work" with some of the most talented ladies in the industry. I now fully embrace (the thing I used to avoid) the internet to share and gain creative inspiration. I am thrilled to have been asked by Nadia to design for OUAS!