More Inspiration from our Sponsor **SWIRLYDOOS** Design Team

Hi everyone. You still have about a week to enter our current challenge and today I wanted to show you a few layouts created for our current challenge by our main sponsor for February SWIRLYDOOS kit club 

Firstly, a little about the sponsor..

SWIRLYDOOS

Swirlydoos coordinated scrapbook kits are comprised of elegant papers and products that help our members create beautiful pieces of art both in their scrapbooks, and altered art projects. Swirlydoos tries to include only the newest and most innovative products on the market, as well as showcasing handmade and non-traditional products that we find within the crafting community. We encourage new growth in our members by offering monthly challenges on our forums and offering both photo and video tutorials which help them to learn new tips, tricks and techniques. We also offer a monthly technique or project kit to help further our members in their artistic ability. In addition, we offer various coordinating add ons for those ladies who can never have too many scrappy goodies!

 Come check us out at http://www.swirlydoos.com/ and see for yourself what sets Swirlydoos apart from other scrapping communities on the net!

February 1st Challenge

Journalling Criteria/theme: LOVE

February 14th is Valentines Day here in Australia and in many parts of the world. For this challenge we would like you to create a project about the one MALE you love. And we do not mean just your partner or spouse. We mean any male in your life. 

Ideas for journalling: You could journal about the love you have for your son, father, grandfather or a special person in your life or any pet.

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. 

You must combine our journalling criteria/theme with this sketch

Guest Designers from Swirlydoos

Paulien van den Bosch 

Tiffany Morgan 

Lisa Valentine 

Thank you ladies for designing for us for this challenge. We love the inspiration you provided!!

SO how are you all going with the current challenge? We have loved the entries so far and can't wait to see more. Here are the prizes for a lucky few :)

Prizes

How would you like to be our Guest Designer for March? The winner of this challenge as voted by the Design Team will get to come back next month and be part of our Design Team. This person will also win this awesome kit from Swirlydoo's

December Kit from Swirlydoos

We also have 2 prizes up for grabs that will be given to two RANDOMLY selected entries.

The first prize is a BEAUTIFUL handmade tag from Berry71Bleu

The second prize for another randomly chosen person are these 2 paper collections from FeatureArt. 

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 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 February 14th, 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. 

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

Take care everyone!

January 15th Challenge **WINNERS and TOP 5 ! "

For our current challenge please click HERE 

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Hi everyone. Time to announce our winners from the last challenge. Incredibly hard yet again and the Design Team took great care in choosing the layouts they thought were winners. We had 9 Design Team members vote individually and one person's name was popping up everywhere....

WINNER

MAIKO MAWA (Japan) 

(Maiko's journalling is hidden in a tag under the flowers) 

HUGE congratulations Maiko. Where do I begin? Beautiful picture, amazing details and clustering of the flower images, gorgeous use of colour and an overall amazing layout we couldn't help but choose as the winner! Well done! 

Please don't forget to grab your badge from the lest hand side of this blog and you have won a 30 day membership at Miss Art's Papercrafting School at the the Extra Credit Level!! Lucky you! Please contact me, Nadia ( nadiac78@hotmail.com) to claim your prize. 

Top 5 Featured Projects

(in winning order) 

Marion (Norway) 

Efi (Greece) 

Kelly Foster (USA) 

Romy Veul (The Netherlands) 

Bellaidea (Poland) 

CONGRATULATIONS once again girls. Your work amazed us! Please take your Featured badge from the left sidebar of the blog. 

RANDOM WINNERS

The winner of the 2 paper collections by FeatureArt is #1 MAYA  from Norway 

The winner of the chipboard pack from Imaginarium Designs is #40 Lauren Tomacek from Australia

Congratulations to both of you. Maya and Lauren, please contact our sponsor coordinator Patti ( onceuponasketch@hotmail.com ) with your postal details and which prize you won to claim so it can be sent to you right away. 

All prize winners PLEASE note that you have 1 week from today to claim your prizes. THANK YOU!

Well done to all the winners. Keep up the good work everyone. 

February 1st Challenge + Meet Our February Guest Designer Trina McClune

Hi everyone! A new month means a new challenge and we have something pretty interesting for you this month. 

Here at Once Upon A...Sketch, we are nearing the end of our first year and during this time we have noticed a huge amount of support from many countries around the world and we are incredibly lucky that our challenges are supported by so many people from all different parts of the globe. One of these countries is Greece, and we have come to realise that we receive many entries from such a small country where scrapbooking is so new, so we had a think and decided to team up with another challenge blog based in Greece and run by our very own Irini Liolia called Get Creative. How exciting!! We have decided to become "sister" blogs, because let's face it...most of us scrapping are women and is there anything stronger than a sisterhood? So for this month only, the Design Team from Once Upon A..Sketch are guests over at Get Creative and taking part in THEIR 1st and 15th of the month challenges and the Design Team from Get Creative are guests on Once Upon A..Sketch! Thus a new bond is formed between 2 challenge blogs. 

So head on over to  Get Creative to see what our team did with the challenges and maybe play along too. 

Oh and never fear! We have been keeping an eye on some other countries and their blogs too and we will do this again with some very popular blogs from other countries. 

February 1st Challenge

Journalling Criteria/theme: LOVE

February 14th is Valentines Day here in Australia and in many parts of the world. For this challenge we would like you to create a project about the one MALE you love. And we do not mean just your partner or spouse. We mean any male in your life. 

Ideas for journalling: You could journal about the love you have for your son, father, grandfather or a special person in your life or any pet.

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. 

You must combine our journalling criteria/theme with this sketch

Guest Designers

 Trina McClune (New Zealand) 

I started to scrapbook well before I realised it had a name, and when my MIL asked if I’d seen this new shop down the road, it was like I’d finally come home. As they say, the rest is history.

I’ve been scrapping ever since – approx 7.5 years - once my twins started sleeping through the night.

I’ve found it to be not only a wonderful creative outlet for me, but also a therapeutic way to mull over ideas, and thoughts as I scrap about those I love.

I currently design for Prima Marketing. I’ve loved Prima for so long I can’t imagine a LO of mine without Prima product on it. But I’ve also designed for several online challenge sites, magazines and have been published widely throughout Australia, NZ and somewhat in USA.

I live in NZ with my family of 3 children (Matt and Sarah 7, and Daniel 5) and incredibly supportive husband Andy. We live in the middle of NZ’s largest city and have somehow managed to obtain 6 chickens, a cat, 3 large vege gardens and numerous fruit trees.

Life is full. Life is fun. Life is chaotic. Life is challenging. Life is good. 

My Blog: Living My Dream 

Here is Trina's layout for our challenge

We also welcome one more guest, who is the winner of our last challenge...

Jeanette Lee (Singapore) 

Hello, my name is Jeanette Lee. I am 26 years old and I reside in Singapore. I started scrapbooking since November 2008, with the initial intention of making some Christmas gifts for friends. I never thought I would actually fall in love with this hobby. Ever since then, it has been a wonderful journey and I am thankful that there is an outlet for me to record down memories through the use of scrapbooking. I am constantly challenging myself to try out new mediums and techniques. I would describe my scrapbooking style as shabby chic, clean and streamlined while enjoying adding special touches that defines who I am. Do find some time to visit my blog at http://nettescraps.blogspot.com

Once again, I am so honoured to be a part of the Once Upon A....Sketch Design Team for the month of February. Thank you for this lovely opportunity.

Here is Jeanette's layout for our challenge..

Now please welcome our Guest Design Team from Get Creative all the way from Greece..

Anastasia Sergiaki  (digital layout)

Anastasia Teologlou (card)

Eleni Gratsia

Marie Papadopoulou (mini album cover)

Melenia Agapides

Olga Milona (card)

Elina Katechi

 Channa Suitella (card)

Efi Stamateli

Alex Pantazi (card)

Irini Liolia

**Love Cherish Adore Imaginarium Designs chipboard

Sponsors

We are delighted to be sponsored once again by a friend of Once Upon A..Sketch, the gorgeous US kit club..

SWIRLYDOOS

Swirlydoos coordinated scrapbook kits are comprised of elegant papers and products that help our members create beautiful pieces of art both in their scrapbooks, and altered art projects. Swirlydoos tries to include only the newest and most innovative products on the market, as well as showcasing handmade and non-traditional products that we find within the crafting community. We encourage new growth in our members by offering monthly challenges on our forums and offering both photo and video tutorials which help them to learn new tips, tricks and techniques. We also offer a monthly technique or project kit to help further our members in their artistic ability. In addition, we offer various coordinating add ons for those ladies who can never have too many scrappy goodies!

 Come check us out at http://www.swirlydoos.com/ and see for yourself what sets Swirlydoos apart from other scrapping communities on the net!

******

We also welcome one more sponsor to Once Upon A..Sketch who will actually sponsor all our challenges with 1 prize all year long!! How exciting!

"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".

*****

Feature Art

Feature Art is an art paper designing company located in South Australia.

CREATING THE UNIQUE DESIGN is our company mission. We offer unique patterned paper that help to develop the versatile craft projects for the craft industry. All our paper product is designed and printed in Australia. We will continue to provide our customers with excellent products and best service always.

Website: http://www.featureart.net.au/store/index.php

Prizes

How would you like to be our Guest Designer for March? The winner of this challenge as voted by the Design Team will get to come back next month and be part of our Design Team. This person will also win this awesome kit from Swirlydoo's

December Kit from Swirlydoos

We also have 2 prizes up for grabs that will be given to two RANDOMLY selected entries.

The first prize is a BEAUTIFUL handmade tag from Berry71Bleu

The second prize for another randomly chosen person are these 2 paper collections from FeatureArt. 

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 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 February 14th, 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. 

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

January 1st Challenge *WINNERS*

Hello to everyone! Its time to announce the winners and Top 5 featured projects for our January 1st challenge. It was once again a very difficult task to narrow it down to a few, so THANK YOU to everyone who played along and your ongoing support of our challenges. 

*please not that all prize winners have 1 week to claim their prizes. Thank you SO much*

WINNER

Here is the winner of our last challenge, as voted by out Design Team members...

Jeanette Lee (Singapore) 

Jeannete, that is one amazing cluster of embellishments and flowers. You have matched the colours of the papers and embellshiments brillinatly, and even though this is a "busy" layout, the focus is still on the gorgeous people in that photo. You did an amazing job and you have been picked as a winner by our Design Team. Well done. Please do not forget to grab your winners badge from the left hand side of this blog. 

Jeanette you have won a spot on our Design Team for the month of February so please contact Irma, our Guest Designer coordinator at irma0408@yahoo.com to get all the info for the February Challenges. You are also receiving a gorgeous stamp set of your choice from The Craft's Meow so please contact our prize coordinator Patti at onceuponasketch@hotmail.com to claim your prize too. 

Moving right along to our..

Top 5 Featured Projects

(in winning order) 

We had a tie for second place as the next 2 projects received the exact points...

Kelly Foster (USA)

Lisa Valentine (USA)

Joyce Lawrence (USA)

Jennaroo (USA)

Sarah Groen (New Zealand)  

Kay Fatula  (USA)

*journalling is hidden behind the photos

WOW! Amazing talent and so much inspiration. The girls from the USA really showed us how its done this time! Well done to everyone. Please don't forget to grab your FEATURED badge from the left hand side of this blog. 

RANDOM WINNERS

#8 is Saku (Japan)

Saku you have won 2 paper collections from FeatureArt! Please contact our prize coordinator Patti at onceuponasketch@hotmail.com, within 7 days to claim your prize. 

#47 is Sandra (Australia) 

Sandra you have won a chipboard pack from Vicky Alberto's Etsy Shop! Please contact our prize coordinator Patti at onceuponasketch@hotmail.com, within 7 days to claim your prize. 

Congratulations to ALL the winners and featured projects. Keep going everyone. You are all doing so well. Thank you for the inspiration!!

More Inspiration from Our Sponsors...

Hi there everyone. You still have a bit of time to enter our current challenge. It ends on midnight, Saturday 14th of December Australian Eastern Standard Time which is about 4 days away so plenty of time. 

Today I wanted to show you a couple of layouts created for our challenge by some of the members on the Design Team of our sponsors. 

January 1st Challenge 

Journalling Criteria/theme: New Years Eve!

Our theme this time is New year's Eve. We would like you to journal about your feelings around this time of year, or tell us about your most memorable New Year's Eve. Where were you? Who were you with? What did you do? Why is this one memorable? Note: the photo that you use for this challenge does not have to necessarily be from New Years Eve. For example, if you spent New Years Eve with your family you can have a photo of your family taken ANY time of the year.

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.

You must combine our journalling criteria/theme with this sketch.

Vicky Alberto 

from Vicky Alberto's Etsy Shop 

Here is what Vicky says :

I was thrilled when Nadia asked if I would have the time to create a layout with her gorgeous sketch for the Jan 1st-14th challenge. The criteria along with the sketch is to share your thoughts/feelings or a memorable experience regarding New Year's Eve. For me it used to be all about the party. Now that I have kids, it is usually a night we hang out and have a lot of fun together - but this year was different. 2011 was an exhausting year for me and I wasn't feeling up to doing much celebrating. We spent a quiet evening watching a movie and after the kids went to bed I made my first New Year's resolution (first one ever!).  Here is my layout interpretation of the sketch and the journaling is on the back. I used a few Dusty Attic chipboard pieces and I made the flowers using Green Tara petals and lace. For more layout details please visithttp://simplypaperandcreativity.blogspot.com

Journaling on the back reads: "This is me 3 years ago, the last time I didn't mind being photographed. As the years go by it is inevitable that more lines start appearing on our faces. I'd like to say that I have more laugh lines now... but the truth is the frown lines seem to be more prominent. My motto for 2012 is more laugh lines, less frown lines. This means some changes in my lifestyle will need to occur. I don't do well with change - but life is too short to not have the time to truly enjoy the moments that make you smile". 

Thank you Vicky for your gorgeous work and I am right with you on the less frown lines and more laugh lines. Life is just too short not to! Thank you also for being our wonderful sponsor for this challenge and hope to see you here again. 

Don't forget to visit Vicky Alberto's Etsy Shop HERE to see all the goodies she has up for sale. 

Jean Martin

 from The Craft's Meow

Jean martin created this beautiful card based on our sketch. THANK YOU so much Jean for your amazing creation. Your cards are simply out of this world and I am incredibly honored to showcase this one here.

I hope you have been inspired a little more to create something for our current challenge. We have loved the entries so far and hope to see some more. 

Take care everyone.