November Challenge: STAMPS & SEQUINS

Welcome to our first monthly challenge. We’d love it if you’ll join us for the entire month of November! Each month we have a theme, and for November, we’d love to see any and all kinds of paper crafts using STAMPS & SEQUINS.

PRIZE
The winner will receive 2 clear stamp sets of his/her choice. He/She gets to pick from the holiday sets and Vignette sets in the shop. (Visit the link to see the stamp sets.)

A DT CALL
We’re inviting creative paper crafters to become a part of the STAMPlorations design team. If you have a blog dedicated to sharing your paper crafting projects (cards, tags, altered art, mixed media, etc.) and you’d like to be part of our design team for a minimum of 6 months starting January 2014, show us your stuff! Simply create a paper craft project that fits our current monthly challenge and submit it. Include “DT” after your name so we know you’d like to be considered (e.g., Jane – DT). As a DT member, you’ll create a minimum of 3 paper craft projects per month (1 for the monthly challenges and 2 for the bi-weekly sketch challenges). You’ll have plenty of time to create your projects because we’ve already got challenges scheduled until the end of 2014. As a DT member, you’ll receive samples of upcoming stamps in the STAMPlorations line as well as previously released stamps when they are available.

INTRODUCING OUR FIRST DT MEMBER: NONNI

She’s one of the most creative paper crafters I was fortunate enough to bump into a couple of months ago and her card creations never cease to amaze me. But I’ll let Nonni introduce herself in her own words:

“I’m Nonni, a 33-year-old card-making enthusiast from Finland. I get to work in my dream profession as a musician but even the best jobs can be stressful… So the world of crafting is a great place to run away to! I got interested in card-making when I was planning my wedding invitations a couple of years ago. I got hooked right away! I enjoy making cards in various styles but Clean and Simple and Vintage are maybe my favorites at the moment. I love stamping and coloring in images with Copics. And I l also like to learn new techniques playing with embossing powders, inks, mists and such. Those who visit my blog often know I have an obsession with doilies, lace and pearls — I tend to put them on all my cards, vintage or not! When I’m not working or crafting, you’ll find me doing various sports or resting on the sofa in front of telly — a girl needs her downtime too!”

INSPIRATION PROJECTS
Here are cards that Nonni and I created for this month’s challenge. We hope they’ll inspire you and we’re excited to see what you create!

Nonni
(using the distressed floral stamps for the background)

Shery
(using stamps in the Holiday Hexagons,Distressed Floral Swirls, Holiday Artsy (outside sentiment), and Jesus is the Reason (inside sentiment) sets)

READY TO PLAY?

• Create a card, tag, mini album/scrapbook cover, layout, home decor item, or any paper craft that features STAMPS & SEQUINS. Any style is welcome — CAS, shabby chic, vintage, grunge, and so on. Post your creation on your blog and submit it by11:55 p.m. PST on Saturday, November 30. Don’t have a blog? You can post a photo of your project on your Pinterest page, Flickr, or any public online gallery.

• You must use stamps (rubber, cling, clear, digi — from any company) in your creation(s).

• Copy the link of your blog entry where you have your project posted and enter it to the linky found at the end of this post. Remember to link directly to your blog post, not just your blog URL. (This will make it easy for us to find your submission and leave a comment.)

• Include a text link back to this challenge in your blog post to encourage other paper crafters to participate.

• You can submit up to 3 entries for this challenge.

• You can submit your creation(s) to other challenges — as many as you want.

• Follow our blog to qualify for the prize.

• And lastly, have a great time creating your project! 

We’ll announce the winner and top picks on Thursday, December 5, here on the STAMPlorations™ blog and on the All About Scrapping page on Facebook. That’s it…we look forward to seeing what you create!

~ Shery

An InLinkz Link-up

Bi-Weekly Challenge #2 Sketch

Welcome to our second bi-weekly challenge! This challenge is open until November 6.

Note: The winner in our bi-weekly challenge gets a winner badge. However, if there are at least 20 entries by the closing date, the winner also receives a prize: his/her choice of holiday stamp set (there are 7 stamp sets to choose from).

Here’s the sketch for this challenge. It’s open to interpretation. Feel free to change the orientation of the sketch (you can do landscape), use different shapes (you don’t have to use flowers in your submission), add other elements to suit the type of papercraft you’re making, and so on — just make sure the sketch is recognizable in your submission(s).

Here are cards based on this sketch. Click on the photos to see the cards in their full size.

      

Ready to play? Here are the details:

• Create a card, tag, mini album/scrapbook cover, or home decor item with ANY THEME using the sketch as your guide and post it on your blog by 11:55 p.m. PST on Wednesday, November 6. (Don’t have a blog? You can post a photo of your project on your Pinterest page, Flickr, or any public online gallery. You can also upload it to our Facebook page here and I’ll add your entry manually to the link collection within 24 hours — but use this only as a LAST resort, please.)

• You must use stamps (rubber, cling, clear, digi — from any company) in your creation(s).

• Go with your preferred style, whether it’s CAS, shabby chic, vintage, grunge, and so on.

• Copy the link of your blog entry where you have your project posted and enter to the linky at the very end of this post. Remember to link directly to your blog post, not just your blog URL. (This will make it easy for me to find your submission and leave a comment.)

• Include a text link back to this challenge in your blog post to encourage other paper crafters to participate. Remember, there’s a prize for the winner if we have at least 20 entries by the closing date. It would be great if you can include the sketch in your post as well. The text link is required if you have a blog; displaying the sketch on your blog post is optional.

• You can submit up to 3 entries for this challenge.

• You can submit your creation(s) to other challenges…except for sketch challenges!

• Feel free to grab our badge and display it on your blog.

• And lastly, have a great time creating your project! 

The winner and top picks will be announced on Friday, November 8, here on the STAMPlorations™ blog and on the All About Scrapping page on Facebook.  Follow the blog or like us on Facebook — it isn’t a requirement for this challenge…do either one (or both) only if you’d like to be notified and be updated as soon as a winner is announced. Thanks in advance!

~ Shery

Bi-Weekly Challenge #1 Sketch

Welcome to our first bi-weekly challenge! This challenge runs from October 4 to October 23. There will be one winner and, depending on the number of entries, between 1 and 5 top picks.

Edited to add: The winner in our bi-weekly challenge gets a winner badge. However, if there are at least 20 entries by the closing date, the winner also receives a prize: his/her choice of holiday stamp set (there are 7 stamp sets to choose from).

Here’s the sketch for this challenge. It’s open to interpretation. Feel free to change the orientation of the sketch (you can do landscape), use different shapes (you don’t have to use squares or rectangles in your submission), add other elements to suit the type of papercraft you’re making, and so on — just make sure the sketch is recognizable in your submission(s).

Below are a couple of examples.

Ready? Here are the details:

• Create a card, tag, mini album/scrapbook cover, or home decor item with ANY THEME using the sketch as your guide and post it on your blog by 11:55 p.m. PST on Wednesday, October 23. (Don’t have a blog? You can post a photo of your project on your Pinterest page, Flickr, or any public online gallery. You can also upload it to our Facebook page here and I’ll add your entry manually to the link collection within 24 hours — but use this only as a LAST resort, please.)

• You must  use stamps (rubber, cling, or clear — from any company; no digi stamps please) in your creation(s).

• Go with your preferred style, whether it’s CAS, shabby chic, vintage, grunge, and so on.

• Copy the link of your blog entry where you have your project posted and enter it to the linky found at the end of this post. Remember to link directly to your blog post, not just your blog URL. (This will make it easy for me to find your submission and leave a comment.)

• Include a text link back to this challenge in your blog post to encourage other paper crafters to participate. It would be great if you can include the sketch in your post as well. The text link isrequired if you have a blog; displaying the sketch on your blog post isoptional.

• You can submit up to 3 entries for this challenge.

• You can submit your creation(s) to other challenges…except for sketch challenges!

• Feel free to grab our badge and display it on your blog.

• And lastly, have a great time creating your project! 

The winner and top picks will be announced on Friday, October 25, here on the STAMPlorations™ blog and on the All About Scrapping page on Facebook.  Follow the blog or like us on Facebook — it isn’t a requirement for this challenge…do either one (or both) only if you’d like to be notified and be updated as soon as a winner is announced. Thanks in advance!

~ Shery

An InLinkz Link-up

Holiday Papercrafting Challenge

Welcome to the STAMPlorations™ Holiday Papercrafting Challenge! So glad you stopped by. We’re kicking off this blog with our first bi-monthly challenge. There’ll also be bi-weekly challenges posted here beginning October 4. For our first challenge, the top pick will win a prize package (worth $49) consisting of 7 holiday clear stamp sets (60+ stamps) from STAMPlorations™. (Click on the image for a larger view.)

The challenge guidelines are simple and as long as your submission follows these guidelines, you’re good to go 

Here’s the sketch for this challenge. It’s open to interpretation. Feel free to change the orientation of the sketch (you can do landscape), use different shapes (you don’t have to use flowers or have the curly bracket in your submission), add other elements to suit the type of papercraft you’re making, and so on — just make sure the sketch is recognizable in your submission(s).

Below are a couple of examples.

Ready? Here are the details:

• Create a card, tag, mini album/scrapbook cover, or home decor item with a holiday theme (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Fall, Winter, etc.) using the sketch as your guide and post it on your blog by 11:55 p.m. PST on Sunday, September 22. (Don’t have a blog? You can post a photo of your project on your Pinterest page, Flickr, or any public online gallery. You can also upload it to our Facebook page here and I’ll add your entry manually to the link collection within 24 hours — but use this only as a LAST resort, please.)

• Use at least one stamp and one kind of paper (cardstock, designer paper, die cuts, washi, vellum, etc.) in your project.

• As for style, go with your preferred style, whether it’s CAS, shabby chic, vintage, grunge, and so on. Do one layer or multi-layers; use few embellishments or lots of it; stick to one medium or combine different ones (inks, sprays, gel medium, molding paste, markers, alcohol inks, watercolors, acrylics). Go with the style that makes you happy! 

• Copy the link of your blog entry where you have your project posted and submit it to our linky at the end of this post. Remember to link directly to your blog post, not just your blog URL. (This will make it easy for me to find your submission and leave a comment.)

• Include a text link back to the STAMPlorations Holiday Papercrafting Challenge in your blog post. It would be great if you can include the sketch in your post as well. The text link is required if you have a blog; displaying the sketch on your blog post is optional.

• You can submit up to 3 entries for this challenge. If you submit more than 3, only your first 3 submissions are eligible.

• And lastly, have a great time creating your holiday papercrafting project! 

I’ll announce the winner on Wednesday, September 25, here on the STAMPlorations™ blog and on the All About Scrapping page on Facebook.  Follow the blog or like us on Facebook — it isn’t a requirement for this challenge…do either one (or both) only if you’d like to be notified and be updated as soon as a winner is announced. Thanks in advance, and may the best papercrafter win!

~ Shery