The 1st Monthly Challenge!!!

Welcome to the very first S J Crafts Monthly Challenge!!

Thank you so much for joining us!

So, this is how it will work ... (aka the Rules!)

A new challenge will be set on the 3rd Thursday of each month!!

Your entry may be a card, scrapbook layout or any other papercraft project. You may combine your entry with any other challenge(s) but no more than 3 entries per person please.

Please upload your entry to your blog with a link back to the challenge and then add your link to the Mr Linky widget at the bottom of the challenge post. Please link directly to your post and not a general link to your blog. No back linking please - new work only, any links dated before the challenge was set will not be eligible for the prize. Please ensure your work is your own and not copied.

You will have about 4 weeks to complete and post your entry, however please check the exact closing date of each challenge.

One winner will be selected at random for a monthly prize and announced here on the blog. The winner must contact me by e mail to receive their prize. A few favourites will also be selected each month and featured on this blog!

There will be a monthly theme together with a few suggestions as to how this could possibly be interpreted and samples from the Design Team. The theme will be designed so that you can (if you wish) scrap the "everyday", the smaller (but no less important) things in your day to day life. It is something that many of us scrapbookers (including me) find tricky to scrap about. We make layouts of our family, friends and places we visit but not so often pages about ourselves or our daily life. Having said that, anything related to the theme will be absolutely fine too. Afterall, the idea is to help you create another layout or card and to have fun doing it.

There will also be an added "Extra" each month. This may be something like .... to use a certain emellishment, colour or technique etc. A little added extra that that may help you to use up that piece of patterned paper you've had for ages or to use a tool you'd forgotten you had.

So without further ado, onto our first theme:

Challenge # 1     "Happy"

Added Extra : Use a Punch!

Our first theme is "Happy" so this could be a Happy New Year layout, or take a photo of something that makes you happy and scrap it, use the title "Happiness is .... " or maybe a "Happy Birthday" card a "Happy Anniversary" card or a stamped image that portrays happiness .... or anything else that "Happy" inspires you to create.

The "added extra" this month is "use a punch" ... so this could be a border punch or a regular punch, it's up to you! Nice & simple for the first challenge!!

Closing date for entries is: 15th February at 1pm.

One random entry will win a £10 voucher to spend in the S J Crafts Shop !!!

Here's some inspiration from our fabulous Design Team.

If you want to see more of their work, just click on their name to visit their blog.

Lisa-Jane

A fabulous card by Lisa-Jane using MME Fly a Kite paper, a fiskars bracket border punch and glossy accents to add shine and dimension to the kites.

Louise

Louise has used lots of layering and torn edges to create a lovely page ... and there's that bracket border punch again!!!

Jenny

Jenny has used MME Breeze patterned paper, Kraft cardstock, oval nesties and her punch is a Martha Stewart arch lattice punch.

Jennifer

I'm loving this little cute, credit card sized mini book by Jennifer, beautifully decorated with tiny photos, MME ordinary label stickers, mini alphas, and butterflies punched with the Martha Stewart butterfly punch.

I hope the DT projects inspire you!

I can't wait to see your projects!

Please remember to link directly to your project and not just your blog and to include a link back to the challenge. If you do not have a blog, please e mail your entry to me at sarah@sjpapercrafts.co.uk and I'll upload it for you.