Some freaking faves for our last two challenges and a winner of our prize for august....

 Here are the freaking faves our design have chosen for the last two challenges:

Challenge 1 (Dream):

Bev Cunningham

Tanya Watson

Mitra Pratt

Cherubs

... and for challenge two (our first sketch):

Marie

 

Cherubs

Regina

Roxy

We will have a blinkie that these ladies can grab very soon to put on their blog.  I'll let you know as soon as it is ready for you ladies!!

The winner of the prize is Chiqui !!! Chiqui - please let me know your mailing address (please send to anne.pennington@xplornet.com)  and I will get it in the mail to you!

30th august 11 prompt challenge ...

Time for our second prompt challenge. You have until the 14th of September at midnight to post your take on the challenge to be eligible for our prize this month. You will have a second chance to enter a layout for this prize on the 15th of September during our sketch challenge for September.

Our prize this month is a $25.00 gift certificate to Scrapbookers.com!!!

The challenge this time is to scrap your birthplace and year – incorporating at least two things that were popular in culture that year as an embellishment (song title, historical event, movie, hero or heroine) – you can include baby photos instead of photos of your birthplace if you wish. Please include a link to another scrapbooking challenge website in your blog posting for this. If you are shy to scrap your year of birth, then why not try some hidden journalling????

You might have some luck on the internet for suitable embellishments, or popular songs, etc. Try it, and see what you find!!

Here's what our awesome design team did for this challenge:

Beverley Cunningham 

Sarah Groen

Donna O'Leary

Mia Montalvan-Castrillo

Sandi Taloumis

Karen Wray

and me :)

Let's see how many come and play this challenge!!! Please add a comment to the blog after you link up your blog posting to Mr. Linky!!

Here is what our participants have done!! You may have to view using Mozilla as a browser for this website.

monday's mentions ... 29 august 2011

The weekly posting where we mention our accomplishments - feel free to post in the comments if you have been recognized - or any of our other players and members.

Sarah Groen was a fave at Sketchy Thursdays this past week!!  Sarah is also the GDT at Sketchy Thursdays for September - Sarah, we are so proud of you!!!

I was at my LSS on Saturday and discovered that the Fall issue of Canadian Scrapbooker magazine was out and it features my layout on page 29!!  I was so thrilled!!

Have you or someone else who hangs out here been mentioned, been a winner, or been published this week?  Please post about it in the comments below.

fave fridays 26 august 2011

Panicking at the thought that the summer is almost over for the kids - yikes!! Good thing we saved a couple of camping trips until the end of the summer!!!

Have you been filling in the last couple of weeks with frantic summer stuff??? Did you manage to get online and see some scrap-worthy projects or techniques ?? Share the links with us in the comments of this post!!

On a more serious note - I saw this posting over at Julie Tucker-Wolek's blog, and recommend you pop over to Stacy Rodriguez's blog to see how scrappers have been supporting her niece who has been diagnosed with a brain tumour.  It is so heart-warming to see how loving scrappers (are there any other kinds) are pulling together for a little girl.

technique twenty-second - August 2011

This technique was sent to us from our guest DT Dani Donner:

1) Cut a square of patterned paper (this one is 3x3 inches):

2) Fold it diagonally in half, like the picture. Tip: use a bone folder to help you fold.

3) Fold the side points until they touch the middle score:

4) Add a glue dot to each side of the kite and "close" it again:

And that's it! You now have a cute and super easy embellishment to add to your cards and layouts. Just another tip, double-sided paper with very different colors work better with this technique.

monday's mentions ... 22 august 2011

Yikes - have been away a lot lately - and thought I had scheduled this posting to go up automatically - but had only saved it as a draft ... sorry !!!

Have you been mentioned anywhere this week?  Have you seen any of our members and players recognized for their scrapbooking this week??? Each Monday we provide this space to acknowledge our accomplishments over the past week.

 They can be scrapbooking accomplishments (publication, challenge wins, becoming a guest designer or regular design team member - or they can be non-scrapbooking related.  Whatever you would like to share with your friends here.

freaking design team!!

Here is a little more info about our each member of our awesome new design team!! I am really excited to be working with each of these ladies!!

Beverley Cunningham 

I'm Beverley Cunningham and my family is my husband Andrew, our two boys Brendan (10) and Christopher (8) and our daughter Kaitlyn (6) along with a couple of cats, a bunny and three goldfish! I discovered scrapbooking in 2006 and so wish I had discovered it sooner! I love all scrapbooking products and tend to buy them before I buy anything else for myself - give me a new craft punch before a new jacket anyday! I have been on a few design teams in the last two years. I have been published in Up 2 Scrap and Innovations magazines. Last year I have won Prima's Build-a-page competition twice as well as been a favourite a few of times so have been published on their blog and their gallery, I have also been published on the BasicGrey Gallery. I am currently on the design team and DT coordinator for Scottie Crafts a brick and mortar and online store as well as one of their Tutors. I am on the Elite team for NZ Paperchase New Zealand's only scrapping Magazine. I am also a Guest designer for Donna Salazar this year. I am very excited about joining Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge team. I am really looking forward to being on this team of lovely, talented ladies and helping other scrapbookers to learn new techniques and to have some fun along the way. You can visit me on my blog: http://bevsscrapbookingworld.blogspot.com

Sarah Groen

Hi there, I live in Auckland NZ with my hubby of 20 years (Mark) and my 6 gorgeous kids who range in age from 2 to 20. I am a stay at home mum and since I discovered scrapbooking 5 years ago I have been a hopeless addict. I am currently on the design team for two NZ scrapbook stores Scrapbook NZ, and Scottie Crafts and also for the Australian based company ‘Rasberry’ and the sketch challenge blog "Little Shop of Sketches'. I am a regular contributor to several scrapbooking magazines and love to participate in challenge blogs whenever I have time. I am very excited to be guesting for 'Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge'!

Donna O'Leary

Hello My name is Donna O'leary, I live in Dunedin, New Zealand. I have 6 wonderful children + 1, and an awesome partner who puts up with my crazy addition of all things scrappy. I work and teach at our local scrapbooking shop (Scrapbook Paradise) and yes it is my paradise. I would call my style Eclectic, depending on what the product depends what I will do. But I do love all things messy, love to ink and distress. My favourites would have to be Graphic 45, 7 gypsies and of course Tim Holtz. 

Mia Montalvan-Castrillo

Hi! I'm Mia Castrillo from the Philippines. I'm a part time free-lance writer and full time Domestic Engineer to my husband of 11 years and my four girls, ages 9 to 10 months. In between cooking, writing, tutoring, taking my girls to school and generally taking care of our household, I scrap. I scrapbook because I am a storyteller and I love telling the stories of my children. :-)

Sandi Taloumis

 Hi! My name is Sandi. I live in Massachusetts with my hubby, who is incredibly supportive of my scrapping obsession. We have three wonderful children and a dog and cat, all of which I love to scrap.

I started scrapping about about seven years ago...I have been addicted ever since! My scrapping style is colorful, artsy, simple, sometimes a deliberate messy, but over-all clean with crisp lines. It's such an honor to be a part of this DT and to be able to create along with such a sweet group of girls! Yippee!

I invite you to visit me at my blog http://Scrappingasigo.blogspot.com

Karen Wray

My name is Karen and I live in Canberra Australia, a place I love completely. I have a husband who tolerates my hobbies and doesn't look at the credit card too closely... I have 3 kids Matt (18), Meaghan (14), and Henry (8). I have been scrapping for a few years now, and have been both guest designer and permanant team members for a few challenge sites. Each challenge site seems to bring a different mix of people and I am very much looking forward to meeting new scrappers on another freaking scrap challenge (and how cool is that name?!!)

and me :)

Hmmm - well, now, what is there to say??? I freaking love to scrap, and I LOVE the friends I have made since I discovered this incredibly creative art form.  I've met many of these friends online, as fellow design team members and fellow challenge players and many in person  - and I have to say that my life is much richer for the people I have met since I acquired this passion. We share ideas and techniques, stories, and our lives.  I was a designer for Scraptivity (a Canadian company), and am currently a designer for Little Shop of Sketches and Scrapbookers Anonymous. I have 5 children, and 3 grandchildren and so have many wonderful people that I love to scrap memories of.  I work as a publisher full time, and am so very lucky to work with creative people every day. I love to travel, canoe, camp, cycle and my part-time studies.

Design team announcement!!

Sorry - am a couple of hours late with this posting - drove 16 hours yesterday and arrived home in the wee hours of the morning this morning, then hosted a houseful today (they've just gone to bed) - but I did want to let you all know that we have our new design team all in place.  I'll be posting some bios and photos soon - but just could not wait to let you all know who will be playing along with us regularly and giving  us some inspiration.  The new design team is:

Beverley Cunningham
Donna O'Leary
Sarah Groen
Sandi Taloumis
Mia Montalvan-Castrillo
Karen Wray
and me :)


Awesome ladies with awesome talent - I have linked their names above to their blogs so that you can visit and take a look at their beautiful designs!!  Pop on over to their blogs and take a peek!

fave fridays 19 august 2011

Got any plans for the weekend???? Kiddies enjoying their last month of summer holidays??  Did you get any time to surf scrappy ideas online this week??? Why don't you share links to what you found in the comments below???

Our first sketch challenge!!!!

So many firsts !! Our first sketch challenge - yay!!! More info for the challenge below the sketch:

Please scrap something fun or humorous - we all need a laugh once in a while, and when there's nothing at all  funny happening in our lives, it will be nice to look at our layouts and smile!  You are not obligated to use clouds or kites in your layout - they just make me happy - so I put them in the sketch!

Daniela (Dani) Donner

Donna O'Leary

Karen Wray

Lee Schertzing

Mia Montalvan-Castrillo

Sarah Groen

Sarah says: "I loved the kites in this sketch and couldn't resist using them just as they are. The photo is typical of what I get when I try to take a 'nice' photo of my 3 teenage boys!!!"

and well, there's me:

Anne Pennington

Here is what you are playing for - all those who entered in the 30th of July challenge and enter this challenge have a chance to win this fun collection donated by me!!

Don't forget to provide a link back to our blog from your blog posting with your layout !!!! We want to share the fun with everyone!!!! Link up your blog post with Mr. Linky below then leave a comment for us!

Deadline to post your layout is 29th August by midnight!!!!

This challenge's awesome entries:

monday's mentions ... 15 August 2011

Mitra Pratt (who plays along with the challenges here) was a fave at Sketchy Thursdays this past week.  Congratulations!!!

If you, or anyone else you know, who hangs out here at another freaking scrappy challenge has been recognized for their scrapbooking work - let us know in the comments here for everyone to see.

Yay for all the winners!!!!

fave fridays 12 august 2011

Summertime and the living is easy ... loving vacation time, and hope you've had some down time too ...

Share something you've seen this week that got your mojo going ...

monday's mentions ... 8 august 2011

 This week:

• Sandi Taloumis (awesome scrapper and member here) was a winner over at Scrapbooker's Anonymous - a great challenge where they dream up fun ways to use up your stash.  Pop over to both Sandy and SA's blogs to check them out.

Who else has been a winner, been published ... had an honorable mention??? We'd love to post it here!! Just let us know in the comments section.

fave fridays 5 august 2011

Ahhhhhhhhh - I'm off work today and off to a scrapbooking retreat with my friends.  Don't hate me because we are beautiful, lol ... so looking forward to it.

Share a link to something scrappy that you found inspiring this week in the comments!!!

monday's mentions ...

Here's a new feature for Mondays - where we list all those we know from here who did something scrappy worth mentioning. Please send me a note at anne.pennington@xplornet.com whenever you see one of our members, contributors or supporters mentioned doing something wonderful!! Please don't be shy to send me a note about yourself too to post!! We all love to hear when good stuff happens to friends!!

Today, I am only listing those accomplishments from last week that I know about - I am sure there are many members who's success last week I am not aware of.  I can add more from last week by editing this post if you make me aware of them.  Send a link along with your description, or placed it all in the comments to this posting!

• Theresa Gillman (a member here, and one of the founders of Scrapbookers Anonymous) was a Fave at Sketchy Thursdays.

• Anne (a member here) was also a fave at Sketchy Thursdays!! (Sorry Anne, don't know your last name - but I do LOVE your work!!)

• Sarah Groen (our guest DT) was one of the top picks for this month's contest at the Sassfrass blog, as was Karen Williams,  Tracee  and Yvonne (her work was mentioned in a fave friday posting) !!! Yvonne also won at Page Maps this past week!

Hop on over to their blogs and check out their work!!!!

Design Team Call

We are looking for a design team for the next 6 months.  Successful applicants will create two layouts a month, due on the 13th and 28th of the month, and post them on their blog after our reveal, providing a link back to our blog from their posting.  One monthly challenge will be a prompt, and the other will be a layout from a sketch. (Well, actually, designers are not obligated to a layout - if they prefer they may make a card or altered item (off the page item).  We ask that designers visit the blog of each person who enters our challenges and leave a comment on their challenge post, as well send an e-mail to me listing their favourite (1-3) entries for each challenge within a day of the close of the challenge. Designers might also be asked to make a comment or two once a month for a new feature we will be launching soon.

Please let me know your preferred media (card, layout, altered item), include a brief bio, tell us what you have to offer, and include a link to your blog within the body of an e-mail to:  anne.pennington@xplornet.com by the 14th of August.  I will get back to the successful applicants by the 17th and provide them with their first challenge which will be due by the 28th of August. Designers will have all your challenges well ahead of time so that they can pace themselves, or do several at a time so that they can pursue other commitments.

Only those who want to make new friends, learn from each other and have fun along the way need apply!!

The design team will be announced on the blog on the 20th of August.  The bios you provide in your application will be used for the announcement.