Monthly Challenge 5 (May/June)

Hello! .... Sorry, I'm a day late with our new challenge!!

Please remember to check out the monthly challenge rules on the tab at the top of this blog, before entering. A quick reminder of our main rules:

Your entry may be a card, scrapbook layout or any other papercraft project.
Please link directly to your post & not a general link to your blog. 

You must mention and include a link back to the challenge in your entry post.

No back linking please - new work only.

One random entry will win a prize. The winner must contact me by e mail to receive their prize. A few of our favourites will also be selected to be featured on this blog!

The final (& most important rule) is to have fun!!

Challenge # 5

Our theme this month is: 

"All About The Boy!"

Added Extra: Use up something old that's been in your stash a while!

So, we want to see layouts featuring boys or men, cards with a masculine theme or anything else that is about "the boy"!!

Please state in your post, the "something old" that you have used!!

Closing date for entries is: 20th June at 1pm.

One random winner will win a selection of mini coloured ink pads!!

Some fabulous inspiration this month from the S J Crafts Design Team!

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

Louise 

Boys and their Toys Layout

Louise used some old alphas and cloud stickers that had been in her stash a while and also Jenni Bowlin tags and the red paper is from MME Dilly Dally 

Jenny 

Jenny's old supplies include: some MME Kraft Funday Superstar paper, a brick wall embossing folder which has never been until now and some tiny brads which were bought when Jenny first started cardmaking. Papers are inked with Brushed Corduroy Distress ink.

Lisa-Jane

My Buddy Layout

LJ has used Echo Park This and That Charming and some Cosmo Cricket washi tape. Old stash includes: the three chipboard pieces which are from an old mini album kit, the cardstock and the gems are pretty old too!  

Jennifer 

Dinosaur Layout

Jennifer's layout featuring her baby boy in his super cute dinosaur outfit uses up some old sheets of Basic Grey 'Archaic' paper. Other supplies include Prima Fairy Belle paper and alphas, pearls and crystals.

I hope the DT projects inspire you!

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.ukand I'll upload it for you.

We look forward to seeing your Boy layouts and cards!

Challenge 3 (March/April) - Winner and Top 3

Did you all think I'd forgotten about the winner of the last challenge??!!

Sorry, it's taken a while ... let's just say so many orders at the shop, new stock deliveries, crops and Open Days to organise and not enough hours in my day to do it all!!

Thank you to everyone who entered the 1,2,3 challenge!! 

So, at last I can announce that the winner of the Echo park chipboard, selected using random.org is.....

No 33!!

That's Dawn Lancaster!!!  Well Done Dawn! 

Please e mail me sarah at sj papercrafts (dot) co (dot) uk and let me know if you would like the This & That charming chipboard or the graceful chipboard 

       

The TOP 3!!

As always, it was tough choosing a Top 3 from all the entries but I eventually settled on (in no particular order):

Claire ~ this layout is just stunning!! There are some fab close ups in Claire's UK Scrappers gallery here!

Georgina

I just love the colours of Georgina's card and so appropriate for our recent weather!!

Mary

Mary's card stood out for me with such a beautiful dogwood image!!

Do click on the winner/Tops 3 names and visit their blogs to see more of their fabulous work!!

Congratulations to all the Top 3 entries!! 

If you would like to display our "Top 3" badge on your blog please e mail me sarah at s j papercrafts (dot) co (dot) uk and I'll get it sent to you!!

Don't forget there's still time to enter our current challenge - closing date is 16th May and the theme is "Favourites".

Take one chocolate box!!

Jenny has altered an empty chocolate box using the brand new fairy belle 6" x 6" papers by Prima.

This is how the box looked before I got to work!

I used Prima Fairy Belle papers to cover the box and all the edges were inked with Tattered Rose Distress ink. 

The flower was cut from more of the Prima papers using a Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die and again I inked all the edges. The brad in the centre was a plain one onto which I stuck a Prima Pearl. A die cut swirl, some small punch butterflies and a couple of small pearls finished it off. I added a little bit of sparkle around the edge of the box, on the flower and butterflies with some stickles.

One very pretty box to hold some pretty things!!

Childish Things!!

Have you seen the gorgeous new collection from Fancy Pants Designs yet?

Childish Things is packed with bright colours and fun designs!

I sent Lisa-Jane the papers, alphas, stickers and buttons to "play with"!! By using some of the bolder designs alongside the plainer "b" sides she has really made the bright designs "work" and I love these layouts.

The title and green gingham border are from the strips paper and LJ used glossy accents on the "dreamer" title to give it shine and dimension. The little blue journalling box is from the cards paper and a few buttons and stickers added to finish.  The heart was collaged with scraps.

Lisa Jane explains ...

One of my favourite papers is the orange woodgrain which marries so wonderfully with the orange and aqua polka dot.  I used my sewing machine to stitch around each block and around the page edge.

Taking inspiration from Glitter Girl's hand-made embellishments and loving the double sided designs on the papers I made my own pin-wheels. I added some brown glitter Thickers, and letter stickers and a few other embellishments from my stash.

For my next page, I knew immediately which story and photo I was going to scrap with these bright and bold papers.  Last Christmas my son got the weekly trophy at football club and the colours and stars on the imagination paper were perfect for this layout.  The alpha stickers in this collection are a good size for titles and there are loads on the sheet with plenty of punctuation marks too.

For the chevrons, I was inspired by this fab tutorial and again used my sewing machine.

I also made a card for my daughter's birthday using the bookshelf paper. I love the bright floral pattern with its bold colours and the cute chipboard piece is from October Afternoon.

This collection may be called Childish Things and it really is great for layouts featuring children of all ages but many of the papers would work equally well for more "grown up" themes.  A lovely, versatile collection that was a real joy to work with.

To see more of LJ's work pop over to her blog here!