July 2013 Guest Designer Lisa Griffith from the USA!

* See our current challenge HERE & our current wall of fame HERE*

Hello lovely people!  I was all set to get this post up last night when my dear kitty knocked my can of Diet Coke all over my keyboard & that was the end of that idea!  Much drying later it has - alas - NOT recovered but my dear hubby had a bright idea & I am now using my son's keyboard on top of my laptop (plugged into the USB) Yes, it is quite the contraption but, well, the things we do for love!  Guess I will be going laptop shopping again soon...sigh...

So things are very slow around here this month, which is a little sad for me, but I can't blame you gals for wanting to spend every minute you can in the sunshine at this time of the year & it is holiday season the world over, I have just returned from a week away myself & have a few more precious days with my university-going daughter, before she starts the long trek back on Sunday.

So enough of my waffle!  On with the show!!  We are so blessed to have the UBER talented Lisa Griffith here with us today with yet ANOTHER fantasmagorical layout - aaaaaaah to be THIS talented huh?!  I can only dream...

Lisa created with our July mood board, which is just so dreamy & beautiful, I am still in love with it every time I see it!  

TIME IS RUNNING OUT ON THIS ONE!!  You only have another 9 days to get your entries in!  Please give it a whirl if you can girls - NO NEED TO GO SHABBY - you can create a clean & simple or modern layout with hearts, keys & texture too y'know!  No favourite styles on THIS blog!!

You can check out Lisa's blog HERE - it is brand, spanking new so sign up & give the girls some support!!

"My name is Lisa Griffith & I live in the US with my husband of 13 years & our 7 year old son Liam. I have been scrap booking since my son was born but it is within the last year that it has developed into my passion! I love it so much because it combines my love of photography & my love of all things vintage, & having time to express myself creatively is so relaxing & rewarding. 

One of my favourite things to do is to go to estate sales and antique markets to hunt for treasures such as vintage photographs and magazines, old postcards and letters, sewing notions, or bits of old lace that I can incorporate into my layouts. 

My style is feminine, shabby & distressed, I like my designs to have an antique worn look like an old tattered book & I love using lots of inks & flowers. I have helped design kits for The Scrapbook Diaries & I am just starting out with my brand new blog!  I am so excited to have had the opportunity to be part of Scrap Around the World, thanks so much ladies!"

" As soon as I saw July's mood board I heard wedding bells! I have never scrapped any of my parents wedding photos so I thought their photo would really fit the theme."

"I loved all the romantic white lace & the white washed architecture.... perfect for a shabby romantic page!"

Please remember to leave some love for our special guest Lisa!

Scrap Around The World June 2013 Wall of Fame!

Please scroll down to view our current challenge.

1st place Lisa Griffith - USA

2nd place Linda Eggleton - Australia

3rd place Sanna Lippert - Austria

4th place Heather Jacob - Australia

Anna Komenda, Chantal Vandenberg, Nicolle Kramer, Melenia, Nicole, Zeneva, Valerie Thorpe & Cathy Lane 

are our 8 honourable mentions.

Wall of Fame created monthly by Alexandra Polyzou.

All place winners & honourable mentions please feel free to right-click & save the wall of fame for your resume.  

Have a wonderful July & hope to see you all back playing here again this month!

July 2013 Challenge 3 - A Regal/Romantic Mood Board by Keren Tamir

Hello there friends of Scrap Around The World!  

Thank you so much for your support, sharing your awesome talent with us & for your comments!  Keeping in touch with us means so much - we love hearing from you, because we want this site to cater for YOU therefore your feedback is invaluable to us!

We are especially grateful to the winner/features & honourable mentions that take the time to comment & thank us for our efforts.  Human beings thrive on positive feedback!!  (Although of course we will take your negative, constructive criticism into account too LOL) but please bear in mind that what we do here is non-profit! (so not too harsh please!) LOL!!

On with the show - Reveal 3 ...We present you with our exquisite mood board for July, created by talented Design Team member Keren Tamir, together with a lovely sketch from our resident sketch designer, Jules 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).

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 pleating/draping of the curtains, the soft organza type fabric, the chandelier, flower clusters, wood(from the table) the green from the grass, the misty background in the first image that could prompt the use of vellum or baking paper, hearts, ribbon, rafia, wreath elements, keys, clear elements, 'door-knob' type embellishments, corsets, dress-forms, floral vines, moulded resin embellishments & frames!

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

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.

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,

Please link to your ACTUAL POST - not to your entire blog - to do this you need to CLICK ON THE TITLE OF YOUR BLOG POST then copy & paste that entire URL into the linky tool {you will notice that it is your blog address but it contains an extension}. 

THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT, along with DISABLING WORD VERIFICATION. If you are concerned about SPAM please change your settings to enable Comment Moderation instead rather. We CANNOT GUARANTEE to find your layout or to comment on it if you do not help us out here so please.... ;-p 

Keren 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 our 'Rules of Play' first as that should tell you everything you need to know :)

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Now for some amazing inspiration from the design team!

'Forever' by Keren Tamir

I loved creating this mood board and as I've never scrapped a photo of my wedding before & thought it would be perfect for this challenge!  I scanned the photograph & converted it to black and white. I was inspired by the white and silver elements on the mood board {and of course all the floral elements!} so used lots of flowers to embellish my layout.  Lastly I added a candelabra inspired by the chandelier in the first image.



'Always' by Agnieszka Bellaidea

 I was truly inspired by the washed white  tones of the mood board.  I found the perfect embellishments, in the form of  chipboard elements, keys & doilies, which I painted off- white before decorating with flowers & foliage . I used a mask with a regal 'feel' to it (in keeping with the images on the mood board) & added pearls for a romantic touch.  

'On Wings of Love' by Eila Sandberg

I immediately fell in love with the ornate gables, the shimmering gold & the delicate & romantic feel of the mood board. The photo of the dreamy view through the draped whispy curtains (in the first image on the mood board) reminded me of the photo I used (courtesy of Mrs Brigitte Grenfeldt.) . I used lots of translucent golds plus hints of soft green on my as well as butterflies inspired by the sketch.

'Forever' by Juraci Falcucci 

As soon as I saw the mood board I immediately thought of weddings, love, lace & flowers!  It led me to create with pale colours using masks with modelling paste in the background. The photo was taken at a wedding we attended recently (not our own!)  What a beautiful mood board & so easy to design with.  The sketch also inspired me to add a pretty butterfly!

'Be you, Be Magical' by Kasia Tomaszewska 

 I was inspired by all the amazing textures of the mood board & set out to create a mostly monochromatic page with some splashes of pastels, full of dimension, tactile beauty & a romantic feel - just like the board :) I followed the sketch quite literally as it was so lovely!  My title was inspired by the stars from it - that filled my head with magical thoughts about my life's dreams!  Of course I added a butterfly & some flowers too!!

'Daydream' by Gayle Price

I LOVED creating with this mood board!  I was inspired by all the beautiful fabric, with it's soft folds, so I have included some tulle, muslin & lace on my page. The distressed frames in the last image on the board prompted me to use part of an ornate picture frame & the metal keys inspired me to use metal flowers that I then embossed to add texture. The sketch is perfect so I followed it exactly.

'Dare to dream' by Alexandra Polyzou

 As soon as I saw this beautiful mood board I thought of my wedding!  I was inspired by all the romantic elements, pale tones & especially the different textures, so I used various patterned papers, beads, washi tape, gesso masking & stitching on my background. I added gauze & broderie anglaise for even more texture plus flowers of course!  I added touches of luxe gold & butterflies from the sketch.

'That a boy' by Christin Grønnslett

I was inspired by the texture of the mood board & used fabric as my  photo mat, together with a crocheted doily plus some pretty flowers of course!  I also used a  paper doily at the side of my layout, plus some pretty bling, all in keeping with the soft, romantic feel of the board.  I added a touch of blue/green inspired by the tint in the last photo on the board, which also prompted my choice of background paper.

'Always Together' by Jessy Christopher

I based my layout loosely on the sketch - I was really inspired by the hexagons! I white washed my papers to keep the colours soft & pastel & used touches of gold by adding strips of metallic washi tape.  Of course flowers & pearls were a must, as were a few butterflies thanks to the sketch!

'Beautiful' by Anupama Choudary

My primary inspiration came from the shabby chic dress form on the mood board & I just had to create my own version of it, complete with flowers, bling & foliage!  I interpreted the chandelier as a hanging birdcage, which I stamped together with a scattering of stars (inspired by the sketch), which I loved, & inspired the use of my washi tape elements & hexagons too.


'Friends' by Leonie Neal-Dawson

I was totally inspired by one particular image on the mood board...can you guess which one?!  I absolutely adored the wood grain texture & the blueish colour tint in the last image, so I created my own wood grain, white-washed background using crackle medium...fun!!  As mum to 3 sons & one daughter I revelled in the opportunity to use all things pretty - flowers, lace & pastel colours :)

'Love Birds' by Helen Tilbury

I was TOTALLY inspired by this mood board, in general!  I've been desperate to use this photo of my daughter & her boyfriend for about a year now so I seized the opportunity & went with the gold - as the photo was taken at sunset & had a golden glow to it (which I boosted up a bit too!)  No mixed media on this at all as I felt the textures were enough :)  I loved the bold sketch & stuck to it despite adding an extra image for impact.

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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!!

This month our merit winner will receive the June Kit 'Dreams in Pastel' 
from C'est Magnifique Kit Club, full of Maja Design's new papers, '
'Vintage Spring Basics' plus lots of Prima loveliness...

Wow!!  It looks AWESOME!!!

2nd place will receive paper collection 'Vintage Memories' from Polish company Studio 75!

See their full range here in their online store.

"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!"

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

Australian Made Laser Cut Chipboard to compliment your scrapbook pages, 

cards & paper-crafting 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!

   

Above is just an example of some of the awesome products they stock HERE.

4th place will receive a $15 prize-pack of your choice from Purple Pumpkin!

Purple Pumpkin manufactures high-quality embellishments of a fun & funky nature!
They are an Australian based mother/daughter team & create wonderful additions to your pages, which can be found in their online store HERE.  They specialize in fabric buttons, handmade flowers, resin, twine & washi tape.  They have a great blog that is constantly active & they hold monthly challenges open to all, with Guest Designer positions up for grabs as well as awesome prizes of Purple Pumpkin loveliness!!
If you are not yet acquainted with their awesomeness check them out HERE.

Our random winner will receive this prize pack of assorted goodies kindly donated by Keren!

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The deadline for this challenge is midnight EST Thursday 25th July 2013.

Please link your entries into our sidebar using our Inlinkz tool &
  don't forget to read our RULES OF PLAY before you begin.

Please play along - our success depends on YOU!

Remember to please leave some love before you go - 

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

Challenge 2 Winners, Features & Honourable Mentions {June 2013} New Badges coming soon & Design Team Call Tips!

Hello again everyone! It's THAT time again!! The Design Team has voted & I have correlated the results! THANK YOU so very much to every one of you for playing along!!  There were SEVENTY EIGHT entries this month, from TWENTY FIVE different countries!  So although we are down 4 entries from last month we are up 6 countries!  The word is spreading!!  Summer holidays are upon many of you (in the Northern hemisphere) & here down South we also have a holiday period so many of you are travelling or just enjoying family time & a scrappy break, but we still had such a good turn out - woopity woop!!

Please don't forget to include your country (we have 19 entries without countries stated so if I don't know where you're from I can't include you in our "stats" - which I think are fun :-p)  This month the Aussies are in the lead with the most entries, followed by the Europeans, then the Americans!  Asia, South America, Eastern Europe & South Africa are also in the running & we have a few Canadians & New Zealanders too!!  Keep it up girls - we LOVE to see your work & we all do our best to make it over for a visit, but word verification is slowing us down, so please consider comment moderation instead - thanks!!

This month our 1st Place goes to Lisa Griffith from the USA 
with this layout (from her very first blog post!!)

SNAG YOUR WINNER'S BADGE LISA!

Huge congrats to you Lisa!  What an amazingly delicate & beautiful page!!

It had us all dumbstruck & speechless for a while - pure perfection!

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

 pass onto Aida at 13arts so you can recieve your wonderful mixed media pack prize!

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

2nd place goes to Linda Eggleton from Australia!

WHAT a truly awesome page!  This was a firm favourite among us all!!

Please email me with your postal address Linda, so I can get Aneta from

Studio 75 to get your paper collection to you as soon as possible :)

3rd place goes to Sanna Lippert from Austria! - I think!!

What an awesome take on the sketch & such WOW factor too!!

Sanna please get in touch so I can get your details passed onto Sofie 

at Scrapmatts & you can receive some LOVELY chipboard!!

4th place goes to Heather Jacob from Australia!

Another great take on the sketch, turning it on it's side & as usual

wowing us with your awesome techniques & inimitable style Heather!

You have won your choice of Flairs from A Piece of Cake designs - 

woohoo!!  E mail me your postal addy & your selections please :)

SNAG YOUR FEATURED BADGE LADIES!!

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Now moving on to our Honourable Mentions...

{I AM WORKING ON CHANGING THE FEATURED BADGE 

TO SAY 'TOP 4 FEATURED' & AM ALSO WORKING ON AN 

HONOURABLE MENTION BADGE TOO - WOOHOO!!} 

 These will only be ready by the end of the month but all

 honourable mentions from May & June are free to SNAG 'EM &

 FEATURED ladies free to exchange your featured badge to a "Top 4"!!!}

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Another EIGHT very beautiful & deserving layouts that came THIS close

to getting featured, but decisions, decisions, this is no easy task!!!

The standard of entries really was incredibly high this month & we would 
hate for you to lose motivation when you are turning out such stellar work!

{We did say last month that we would feature a VARYING AMOUNT

 of honourable mentions each month, depending on the votes,

 but we wouldn't exceed 10% of our total entries}

Anna Komenda (Moriony) from Poland!

Isn't this layout completely ADORABLE!

Be still my beating heart - I see a PINK camera!!

Chantal Vandenberg from Australia!

WOW!!!!!  Amazing page!  Such an individual style!!!

Nicolle Kramer from the USA!

Yum, yum, yum!!  Beautiful colours & inspired page Nicolle!!!

Melenia from Greece

This layout was a firm favourite!

Nicole from Belgium!

This is just so light, bright & stunning!!

Zeneva from Australia!

Sheer textural delight!!

Valerie Thorpe of South Africa!

Wonderful attention to detail!

Cathy Lane from South Africa!

A very beautiful classic shabby page!

WOW!!  You girls are giving us on the Design Team a run for our money!! 

I am already getting so excited about selecting the new team for next
 year so expect to see the call in March 2014 & remember :-

 1)  you need to have played along at the site to be considered. 

 I'm all about keeping it real around here, but of course there are many other factors to consider. 

2).   Geographical location (so we throw the net out wide!).

3).   English speaking ability (from a practical viewpoint for our Facebook group)

4).  Popularity/Followers (as the more people that read your blog the more chance of some of them playing)

5).  Great work & great photography (of course!) 

6).  A commitment to all aspects of the team (in other words behind the scenes co-operation, commenting etc, there is more involved than simply contributing one layout a month no matter how awesome it is!).

Now onto our RANDOM WINNER!!

Po Prostu Asia from Poland!

Po was one of our Honourable Mentions last month & as you can see she

played again & created another lovely & highly artistic creation!!

Po please email me at scrapaddict@telkomsa.net so I can pass your

postal address onto Anupama & she can send out your 3 stencils!

I can see that you will definitely use & enjoy them - congrats!!

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

Come back on MONDAY to check out Challenge 3!!!

THANKS FOR PLAYING!!!

Remember it's not only about winners - we want you to have fun & "make good art!"

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

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

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