June 2013 Guest Designer Arnlaug Koppang from Norway!

♥ See our current challenge HERE and our current Wall of Fame HERE. ♥

Hello ladies!  Gosh I am SOOOOO excited, grateful, thankful, over-the-moon crazy happy that Scrap Around The World is such a huge success!!  The entries are rolling in so thick & fast this month that the Design Team is battling to keep up with the commenting but please bear with us - we are so excited to see what you have all created & visiting whenever we can :)

Our success is all thanks to YOU & your enthusiasm & participation - THANK YOU,  THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!  It was a dream of mine to create this challenge blog for a LONG time before I made it a reality & I'm just so glad that I did!!  Thank you AGAIN!!!!

Without further ado please welcome our fantastically talented winner from our very first challenge last month, Arnlaug Koppang of Norway, who has created a very beautiful layout for us based on this month's sketch & mood board.

Just a reminder above of our current mood board/sketch combo - don't forget you only have until midnight EST on Tuesday 25th of June to get your entry in for this one so that's only another 12 days!

You can check out Arnlaug's blog HERE.

I'm a 31 year old 'girl' from a small island on the west coast of Norway.

 I'm married with two little girls. I've been scrapbooking since 2008 but it's only in the

 last 2 years that my creativity has really hit the surface & now I can't stop!

 I mainly make layouts but sometimes I try out other projects too, and I'm just starting out with art journalling. 
I love scrapping because it's a hobby for both memory keeping & creating art. 
When I scrap my mind relaxes & takes me away from my busy everyday life.

I can't say I have one particular style but I have to say I'm having a blast when I'm playing with mixed media at the moment!  I'm currently on the Design Team for a great international sketch blog based in Norway, Skissedilla & I am so proud to be on this cool team! I'm also on the Design Team of a British online-store, A Sprinkle of Imagination & also design for  The Color Room. 

"I was inspired by both the colours & the theme of the mood board.

 Pink & mint green are two of my favourite colours & I love how they compliment each other"

"I loved the camera theme as I am addicted to my mobile phone camera & take hundreds of picture of my daughters each month, hoping for the perfect shot!  I adore this photo of them eating breakfast together & laughing happily!!"

Please remember to leave some love for our very special guest Arnlaug!

Scrap Around The World May Wall of Fame!

Scroll down to view our current challenge!

1st place Arnlaug Koppang - Norway

2nd place Moriony - Poland

3rd place Mona Pendeleton - USA

4th place Heather McMahon - Australia

Sandi Smith, Cathy Lane, Po Prostu Asia & Ava Gavloski are our Honourable Mentions!

Wall of Fame Created Monthly by Alexandra Polyzou

June 2013 Challenge 2 - An Eclectic/Retro Mood Board by Anupama Choudary

Hi there friends & fans of Scrap Around The World!

Thank you for your overwhelming support & all your lovely comments on our first challenge!  We were bowled over & just loved hearing from you!!  Please continue to talk to us - feedback is so important & keeps us going, making our efforts worthwhile!!!  

Here we go with our 2nd challenge!  We received 82 entries last month!!  Remember it's not only about winning & EVERYONE has a fair chance in our random draw.  With so many awesome entries it's impossible to feature every exceptional layout but if you created a beautiful page that you are proud of & enjoyed the challenge then we achieved what we set out to do - inspire you to create & enjoy the process!  

We present you with an eclectic, retro mood board from amazing Design Team member 
Anupama Choudary, 
together with a happy & whimsical sketch from our resident sketch artist 
Julianne McKenna-De Lumen.

 All you need to do is be inspired by the mood board 
(in ANY way) & use our sketch as your starting point.  

(No need to tell us HOW the board inspired you if it is OBVIOUS, 
otherwise please let us know 
- a couple of lines explanation is all that is vital for us).

**The above image MUST appear on the blog post containing your challenge 

entry -you also need to mention that you are playing along with the current 

challenge at Scrap Around The World &  LINK UP TO IT please.**

(not to your entire blog)

How to use our sketches

As you would any other sketch.  We would like to see that it definitely inspired you & was your 'starting point' 
but you can 'make it your own' by flipping it, turning it, inverting it & moving things about if you like.  
You can also change the photo orientation and number of photos to be as few or as many as you like.

How to use our mood boards

Our mood boards are for your INSPIRATION only.  You can be inspired by one of the images, 
all of the images, or any number of them, or even parts thereof.

For example:- on this board you may be inspired by the colours (either all of them or just one, two or more)
 but you do not have to use any colours on the board if you don't want to.

Other aspects of the mood board that could inspire you are, for example, the circular, cylindrical & rectangular shapes, the camera images & connotations thereof (photography theme/embellishments), suitcase images, vintage buckles, straps, hazy backgrounds, vellum/baking paper, rafia, roses, twigs (chipboard), metallic images, film strips, typography, stencilled titles, ombre effects, old book paper & wooden elements. 

It's entirely up to you!  Be Inspired in any way!!

Anupama is our challenge host this month & will be monitoring the comments section of this post & answering 
any questions you may have - also directly in the comments section - but please read the 'Rules of Play' 
before you begin, as that should tell you everything you need to know.

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Now for some fabulous inspiration from the Design Team!

'The Most Wonderful Story' by Anupama Choudary

Creating this mood board was an emotional experience for me, bringing back memories of my maternal grandmother. I visualized the camera as a time-travel gadget into a bygone era & chose to scrap a vintage picture preserved in our family album. I used different fonts as inspired by the mood board, various text stamps & lace in keeping with the vintage theme.

'B' by Agnieszka Bellaidea

The mood board inspired me to use shades of pale pink together with an impromptu/candid photo of my daughter 
(inspired by the camera images). I masked with gesso in keeping with the pale colours of the mood board, 
fussy-cut a rose as in Image 2 & stayed true to the sketch by placing my elements accordingly.

'Sleepy' by Keren Tamir

I was truly inspired by the pastel tones of the mood board.  I found the perfect embellishments in the form of  cute wooden cameras, which I painted in pale, milky pink, then decorated with lots of flowers (inspired by the rose in the mood board).  I used a photo of my daughter sleeping when she was a baby as it matched the colours of the mood board so well. 

'You & Me' by Alexandra Polyzou

The cameras in the mood board instantly reminded of the hundreds of photos I took during my honeymoon in Italy.  I made a little banner using some filmstrip paper, washi tape & vintage elements, in keeping with the old, historical buildings in my photo background. (Taken in Pisa!) I used sepia ink & gesso in keeping with the soft 'olde worlde' feeling of the mood board.

'Smile' by Gayle Price

The bottom right hand image of the mood board was the main influence for my page. I loved the vintage look and the washed out bluey green background. I turned the sketch once to the right & emphasised the vertical and horizontal strips with  my main embellishments being photo frames. I used the banner idea for hand-writing my text/journaling in an unusual way & used the word 'Smile' as that's the first word that comes to mind when anyone has a camera pointing in their direction.

'A Splendid, Lovely Day' by Jessy Christopher

 The mint camera & the pink rose in Image 2 inspired me to create my layout. I was lucky enough to have some camera flair buttons on hand to enhance my layout & also the word flair button 'Click It' in keeping with the words in Image 4.  I stayed true to the sketch, layering some pennant flags beneath my photo to reinforce my banner colours throughout my page.



'Bumble Bee' by Eila Sandberg

The pink rose set the tone for my page as did the banner although I moved it under my photo instead. The stacked books & pink cake inspired me to stack my fussy-cut elements. I was inspired by the pale tones of the mood board, particularly the addition of brown that always adds a vintage feel.  The sketch was my initial inspiration although I ended up moving elements around to accommodate the many fussy-cut elements I wanted to include in my page.

'Capture Life's Moments' by Zanka (Zaneta Glowa)

The combination of soft, pastel rose, mint green & vintage browns inspired me to create a feminine vintage layout based on that colour scheme. The field in Image 1 inspired the idea of using die-cut wild flowers to pad out my flower arrangement.  I interpreted the banner very gently through the use of tiny dots of Liquid Pearls. Lastly, the camera images inspired the title of my layout as they are responsible for capturing life's moments. 

'Say Cheese' by Leonie Neal-Dawson

The pink & aqua/green tones were the inspiration behind the background on my layout & I was inspired by the camera images in the mood board.  I interpreted the banner by using wood veneer cameras below my photos.  I also liked the timber/brown colours in the mood board which is why I used the wood grain paper &  brown shades of distress ink.

'Look at me' by Juraci Falcucci

The shades of pale pink, beige & brown were the colours that inspired me from the mood board.  My layout ended up very feminine as I emphasized the flower elements from both the board & the sketch & used lace to create my banner. The camera images in the board reminded me of this photo of my niece {where she is actually asking me to take a photograph of her} so it was the perfect choice of photo to use!

'Loved This' by Christin Grønnslett

I was inspired by the cameras and my starting point was the colour of the mint green camera in Image 2. Of course I had to add a couple of camera embellishments together with my little interpretation of the banner, keeping everything very light as per the feel of the mood board.  I loved how these pale shades echoed the many pastel colours of the bubbles my son was blowing in the photograph I used.

  

'Love is All you Need' by Helen Tilbury

I was super inspired by this pretty mood board!  Particularly the soft colours, that pale beige, awesome aqua & vintage brown.  Once I decided on what paper collection to use everything fell into place based on that.  I loved making the banner using an ombre paint/inking technique in keeping with Image 5, which also inspired my use of old book paper, which I scrunched up & used to interpret the elements under the photograph in the sketch.

'Photography' by Kasia Tomaszewska

I loved this sketch & mood board & kept my layout's composition very close to the orginal sketch because it was just perfect & beautiful! From the mood board I picked the camera & photography topic to build my page around.  I liked the stencil painted word in the last image so I incorporated this technique onto my page. I also used soft colours -  beige, pink and mint. 

'A Moment In Time' by Julianne McKenna-De Lumen

I kept reasonably true to the sketch & was inspired by the mood board in many different ways. I chose the colours for my layout from the second image (mint green, pink & ecru). I used a patterned paper with camera images & the image with the books inspired me to hand-journal & use washi-tape with a script design. 

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Onto our prizes & sponsors for this challenge!

Our design team votes on all entries, thus selecting a winner & 3 features.

A random winner is also drawn. 

There will always be a prize for the Merit Winner & the Random Winner.

If we get lucky there will be prizes for the featured layouts too!
This month we are again blessed with 5 PRIZES!!

We have prizes for the Merit & Random winner AND for all 3 features!!!

AS WELL as winning our first prize,
 the winner will be invited back as Guest Designer for the next challenge.

Our challenges are open to everyone, anywhere in the world

 & all this month's prizes include FREE INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING!!

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This month our merit winner will receive this HUGE pack of papers
 (the new 'Faces of Spring' Collection) PLUS mixed media goodies from
 our generous Polish sponsor, 13arts, owned by our wonderful & kind friend
 Aida Domisiewicz who is a highly talented mixed media artist herself.

Just look at all of this!  I wish that I could win it myself!!
What a HUGE and generous prize & shipping is included!

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2nd place will receive a complete paper collection 'Home Sweet Home' 
from another awesome Polish company - Studio 75 - shipping included!
Check out their online store too HERE.

"We are dedicated to bring you happiness & satisfaction with every moment spent with scrapbooking items by Studio 75. We know that keeping your experiences positive is very important for you so we prepare our papers and embellishments with care for every single detail. Our Designers put their heart & soul into their work so we can offer you items that spark your imagination & give you endless pleasure - papers, tags, stamps, charms, chipboard, art journals, album bases & more!"



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3rd place will receive a $25 chipboard prize-pack from Scrapmatts Chipboard
 in Australia,containing a selection of their latest releases - shipping included!

Australian Made Laser Cut Chipboard to compliment your scrapbook pages, 

cards & papercrafting projects. Scrapmatts has a ning site that showcases an 

amazing talented international design team who post daily on the blog there, 

a Gallery, customer challenges & an online store. Come join in the fun here!

This is just an example of the type of product you will win!
Available from their online store HERE.

    

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4th place will receive 3 packs of Flairs OF YOUR CHOICE from
 A Piece of Cake Designs in Australia, including free shipping!

  

{Above are just a few examples of the wide choice available!}

A Piece of Cake Designs is a unique & scrumptious monthly scrapbooking kit club which provides kits that are jam packed with papers and cool embellies. Owner, Raquel Bowman, prides herself on the fact that all the hard work of combining and creating yummy colour combinations & brands is done for you, therefore making it 'a piece of cake' to start scrapping and creating in this busy world we live in! 

This year, APOCD have released an exclusive new product, Cherry Flair. These gorgeous 1" flat backed embellishments are designed and handmade with love and care by APOCD. These are the perfect 'cherry on top' of any scrapbooking page. APOCD releases a Main Cake Kit, a Cupcake Kit and new Cherry Flair designs each month on their website. 
Follow them on Facebook HERE.

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Our random winner will receive this prize pack of The Crafter's Workshop 12x12 Templates kindly donated by Anupama herself.

 

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The deadline for this challenge is midnight EST Tuesday 25th June 2013.

Please link your entries into our sidebar using our Inlinkz tool &
  remember to type your name AND country

(we REALLY want to know where you come from as this will help us

to see where the scrappy talent lies in this world!)

Please play along - our success depends on YOU!

To get great sponsors we need a LOT of players!!

Remember to please leave some love before you go - 

we would love to read your thoughts on our new challenge!

♥Thanks so much & enjoy the month ahead ♥

Challenge 1 Winner, Features & Honourable Mentions {May 2013} Scrap Around The World!

Hello Ladies!  The moment you have all been waiting for has finally arrived!!

The Design Team have voted & I have the correlated the results!

A HUGE "thank you"!!!!  to everyone who participated to make 

this a very exciting competition with 

EIGHTY TWO entries from at least NINETEEN different countries!

{not everyone remembered to add their country to their link - 

please do - it's such fun to see where you are from!!}

1st place goes to Arnlaug Koppang! {from Norway - I think?!}

SNAG YOUR WINNER'S BADGE!!

Congrats Arnlaug - we all agreed your layout was super

 awesome, creative & just downright OUTSTANDING!! 

 Please email me at scrapaddict@telkomsa.net with your postal address for me to

 pass onto Inkido so you can receive your huge new collection from

 Papercrafts Scandinavia! 

{we will also discuss your GUEST DESIGNER offer!!}

2nd place goes to Moriony from Poland!

Congratulations!!  Stunning layout - that is unquestionable!!

Please e mail me with your postal address so you can 

receive the new paper collection from 13arts!

3rd place goes to Mona Pendeleton of the USA!

Mona is a highly talented artist as is plain to see!  

Please e mail me Mona so I can pass your postal details onto Scrapmatts

& you can receive a pack of their latest & greatest chipboard!

4th place goes to Heather McMahon of Australia!

Such a fun & pretty layout with lovely detail!

Heather you've won some beautiful flowers from Inkido so please

email me your postal details so I can get those sent off to you!

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SNAG YOUR BADGE LADIES!!

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Now for some important acknowledgement for 4 ladies whose entries

 were also FANTASTIC & who came very close to being featured - our

HONOURABLE MENTIONS! 

{each month we will have a few of these based on entries that were just

 a few points shy of the features so the amounts may vary from month 

to month but will not exceed 10% of our total entries}.  

Sandi Smith from Canada!

This layout is just WOW!!!

Cathy Lane from South Africa!

Beautifully put together masculine page!

Po Prostu Asia from Poland!

WHAT a funky page!!

Ava Gavloski from Canada!

Stunning monotone, technique-filled page!!

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Last but not least our random winner is....

Helen Wallace of Australia!!

You win a large collection of assorted goodies from me

so inbox me on Facebook with your address please!

We talked behind the scenes about the awesome background on this page - 

AMAZING WORK!!!

All winners are required to contact me within one week to claim their prizes - 

please put SCRAP AROUND THE WORLD PRIZEWINNER in the

subject line (you really don't want to know how many emails I have

in my inbox & I want to be able to find yours easily!)

scrapaddict@telkomsa.net

Well that's it from me!  

Come back on Saturday to see our new challenge!!

Once again thank you to EVERYONE who participated & please join us

again next month - it's not just about winners - we want you to have fun!

Don't forget to leave some LOVE for all these lovely ladies - 

we are all about encouragement & mutual support around here!!!

Last but not Least! {I hope!!} Meet Jules & Helen!!

Hi everyone!  This is NOT the winner's post - SORRY!!  

We are still working on that - fast & furiously behind the scenes - the judging is on the go "full steam ahead!" but there are just so many beautiful pages & only 4 merit prizes so this really is very difficult & fun but not fun too!!

Time to meet our gorgeous Sketch Designer Julianne McKenna-de Lumen, 

who goes by the name of Jules to all who know & love her :)

1. How much time do you spend creating each week?

. I usually scrap everyday, although this depends on my schedule and family

plans. I usually scrap during the day on weekdays & at night on weekends. 

2. Do you have any other hobbies/obsessions as well as scrapbooking?

I enjoy reading (I'm an insatiable bookworm), travelling,

going to the gym, photography & collecting Blythe and Barbie dolls.

{ My husband reckons I enjoy collecting cats too! }

3. What can you tell us about where you live?

. Mount Barker is a quaint little town that is 'officially' considered one of the 

cloudiest & wettest places in Australia! In other words, I am living in 

the Australian version of Forks, Washington USA (but without the vampires!!).    

Remember you can read more about our designers under the 'Design Team' tab HERE.

And here I am!! You can find my blog HERE 

& I update it 5 or 6 times a week on average - I am rather a blogaholic - 

so pop over if you are ever short on inspiration & hopefully you'll find 'something' inspiring!!

1. How often do you scrapbook?

I usually end up scrapbooking about 3 or 4 times a week but when I do

I spend at least 4 hours standing at my scrapbooking counter!

2. How long does it take you to complete a scrapbook page?

It can take me anything from one to four hours to complete a layout.

Earlier this year I tried out a faster style of scrapbooking that was more

'freestyle' but while it was fun I've reverted back to creating pages that

I am proud of, although they do take a lot longer to create!

3. Do you listen to music while you scrap? 

If so name 3 songs on your media player.

Oh yes, I have to have music blaring whilst I am scrapping although my

kids make me turn it down as they do their homework at the same time!

I don't have a set taste in music - I just like what I like!!

Right now 3 songs I'm enjoying are:-

'It's time to Begin' by Imagine Dragons

'Suitcase for a Home' by The Parlotones

'Closer' by LocNville

{those last 2 are awesome South African bands!}

Well I hope you enjoyed finding out more about US & YES I will be back 

within the next few days to announce the winners of our last challenge!