January 2014 Winner, Features, Finalists & Guest Educator Announcement!

Hi again!!  The time you have all been waiting for is here!  I know how exciting it is to find out if you have been featured in a challenge or not so I hate to keep you waiting & always do my best to get our winners announced on time each month.  We had an absolutely awesome 108 entries last month!  We could not believe our eyes!!  Every time we went to check the linky there were MORE entries - I felt like Mark Zuckerberg's character in the "The Social Network"movie - watching the numbers rolling in right before my very eyes - it was truly wonderful :p  THANK YOU!

*** Just one thing!!  PLEASE REMEMBER you need to link us up to YOUR BLOG - we do not accept entries linked up to galleries or places like Tumblr - only to personal blogs.  This is due to accessibility issues - thank you ***

Here's a reminder of what our January mood board looked like!

Kim Ewins, our designer who created this mood board, is really a phenomenal talent.  You should check out her blog HERE.  She has such a beautiful, soft style, that I really admire.  YOU all loved her mood board too, clearly :)  Not only did we have the most amount of entries EVER but the standard of entries was also the HIGHEST we have ever seen!  To me this is actually MORE IMPORTANT than how many entries we get, as it is living proof that people are motivated by prizes (which is a great thing - I am a capitalist through & through) & it shows me that people are really pushing themselves to MAKE GOOD ART!!  That is what this site is all about!

If you've never watched the video above - NOW IS THE TIME.  It could be the best 20 minutes you spend all year - it certainly was life-changing for me last year & all about MAKING GOOD ART.  Of course this made the judging very difficult & time-consuming but we did it, because we have that responsibility to you, our players, who spend hours creating a feast of gorgeous inspiration for us that gives us absolutely infinite pleasure!!  

We inspire you - you inspire us - it's such a joyful mix and so rewarding!!

Our top 4 layouts this month were mere points apart - all really phenomenal!

Our winner this month is Tanita from Russia!  (Again!!  Our winner last month was also from Russia).  

Tanita understood our mood board PERFECTLY & not only created a beautiful work of art

 but also gave us such a fantastic explanation of her inspiration.  This is what she told us:-

 " I was Inspired as much by not palette, as by atmosphere of these pics.  Easiness, airiness, light-heartedness, peace and harmony. That's why I wanted to make light, bright, soft, gentle & romantic layout, full of love; layout, that could hug & warm you. But sure, I used some aspects of palette too :) All the Shades of beige, Milky &Sandy, Natural Shades of wood & accents of blue & Turquoise.  Also I want to note, That I don't like to use in Flowers my works, but here, when I looked at the mood board, I decided to add more romantic & used them :)  Hope, you'll Understand my Feelings and emotions :)  Thanks for your Challenge, it really was a splash of art for me :)"

2nd place goes to Yulia Mozhova from Ukraine.  Another fantastic take on our mood board,

from someone who totally "got it!"  We also LOVED what Yulia had to say about our board...

"Are children not wonderful creations?  No matter what -  the sound of waves, the hot sun, the loud cries of seagulls - noise...movement... The child needs a rest!  And let the whole world wait..."   Even Yulia's description is pure poetry!!

3rd place goes to Zuziucha from Poland, with a very beautiful page, 

 totally layered up & luscious, with stunning use of colour & texture.  GREAT job!!

4th place goes to Asia Ossowska, also from Poland.  She said this about her page.  "I was very inspired by pictures with lights & glass balls in a net. I decided to refer to them & I made ​​a kind of garland with linen thread & some transparent glass beads."  TOO COOL!!!  What a completely adorable idea!!

5th place goes to Rachael Funnel of Australia.  Her layout
 is completely evocative.  Amazing colouring & layering!

And that completes our winners & features.  Now onto our finalists...

6th place goes to Dorota Dolega of France!  Dorota admits to
 being "texture obsessed" - well we can see that & we're impressed!

7th place goes to Annar from Poland for this charming page.

8th place goes to Jelissa Mei of Singapore!  So clean
 & beachy but also rustic & grungy - great combo!!

9th place goes to Veera Saarivuo from Finland - peace on a page :)  Exquisite!!





10th place goes to Stephanie Papin of France for this uber-chic layout.



Congratulations talented & tenacious ladies!!



Now onto our Guest Educator!

Who caught our eye this week with their wonderful techniques!?!
Leila Cardoso of Brazil that's who!!  Leila is a regular player at
Scrap Around The World & submitted this lovely layout last month.



There is a lot of goodness in this page, so we would like Leila to come back next month as our Guest Educator, 
to share a step-by-step photo tutorial of how to create another layout, in a similar style
 to this one, to show us how she goes about her creative process!

Now onto our RANDOM winner!  REMEMBER that to be eligible for this prize 
you now need to ALSO UPLOAD your entry to FACEBOOK {our page HERE}.  

Congratulations to Sarah Routledge from Canada!  
She created this ADORABLY SWEET layout!!





**** PRIZEWINNERS NOTES****

1ST PRIZE - Tanita - please email me {Helen} at
scrapaddict {at} telkomsa {dot} net asap with the title
"1st prize - Tanita- Creativica prize-pack"in the subject line
& your postal details, to claim your prize THEN please also
 contact our Guest Designer co-ordinator, Kim Ewins, 
@ kimewins {at} hotmail {dot} com with the title 
"Tanita - SATW Winner Jan 2014 Guest Designer"

in the subject line, so she can send you what you need

for your {optional} Guest Designer post.

2ND PRIZE - Yulia Mozhova - please email Di Garling @

vgarling {at} bigpond {dot} net {dot} au with the title

"2nd prize - Yulia Mozhovo - 2Crafty prize-pack" in the

subject line & your postal, details to claim your prize.

3RD PRIZE - Zuziucha - please email me {Helen} @

scrapaddict {at} telkomsa {dot} net with "3rd prize -

 Zuziucha - Scrapmatts prize-pack in the subject line 

& your postal details, to claim your prize.

4TH PRIZE - Asia Ossawska - please email me {Helen}

@ scrapaddict@telkomsa {dot} net with "4th prize - 

Asia Ossawska - Purple Pumpkin prize-pack" in the 

subject line & your postal details, to claim your prize.

5TH PRIZE - Rachael Funnel - please contact Eila

Sandberg in connection with your prize :)

RANDOM PRIZE - Sarah Routledge - please contact 

me with "Random Prize - Sarah Routledge - Studio 75

Collection" in the subject line, plus your postage details.

Guest Educator - Leila Cardoso - please email our Education

Co-ordinator, Leonie Neal-Dawson, at leoniend12

{at} gmail{dot} com with the title "Leila Cardoso -

SATW Guest Educator Spot Jan 2014 for Feb 2014''

in the subject line - THANK YOU WINNERS!!!

And once again thanks to EVERYONE WHO PARTICIPATED!

You all did a totes awesome job & we loved looking through all

108 entries!!  Please join us again this month & REMEMBER

TO LEAVE SOME COMMENT LOVE  for our winners!!!