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Art Journalling challenge blog offering one monthly challenge, fantastic Design Team inspiration, and our monthly magazine, Artful Pages.

Join us, enjoy the journey and have some creative fun! We have an amazing new sponsor for our challenge!


23 July, 2016

July 2016 Mini Challenge - FUN

Hello & Welcome to our July More Than Words MINI Challenge!

Once again we are VERY eager to see what fantastic designs you will all create for this month.

Here is our July MINI challenge board:
Here's how it works:

The Mini Challenge runs on the last week of each month and is for
 cards, tags and ATCs only. (ATCs, or Trading Cards, are small works of art, 
about 2.5 by 3.5inches or 64 x89mm). 
This challenge requires you to use a specific word on your project.
We must see the actual word. 
You have only only one week - until the last of the month - to enter, so be quick!

Entry for the Mini Challenge is only via our Facebook page 
under the relevant post. 

The winner will receive a $25 voucher from DUSTY ATTIC
our fabulous Mini Challenge sponsor.

And just to sweeten the deal, all our prizes 
include free shipping to anywhere in the world!

You can see all our rules under the Rules tab at the top of this blog.

Have you got FUN creative ideas running through your mind? 


Here's what our Design Team came up with:





JOYCE KERS - TAG












LILIBLEU - TAG 



DI GARLING - TAG



PAMELA ELLIS - TAG 









We hope that our fabulous designers have inspired you to give our challenge a go!

You have until 11:55 pm EST on Sunday 31st of July 
to get your entries in HERE

HAPPY CRAFTING!

16 July, 2016

Special Guest Spotlight on
KAROLA WITCZAK


It's time for another Special Guest Spotlight
and we cannot wait to reveal to you our July Guest Designer!


Karola Witczak is one of the most talented scrap artists out there.  
She has designed for the top manufactures and she is busy teaching her beautiful 
craft techniques throughout Europe, as a Prima Marketing Educator.  
We are thrilled to have her join us this month!

Let's learn more about Karola from her own words:

"My name is Karola Witczak.  I'm a scrapbooking and card making designer and instructor as well as a graphic designer from Poland.  Since 2005 when I fell in love with scrapbooking, I have developed my passion and creativity working with lots of fantastic products, techniques and cooperated with top scrapbooking brands like Prima Marketing, Pink Paislee, Glitz Design, Melissa Frances, etc, 
as well as several international creative blogs and websites.  
Currently, I am a Prima Marketing Educator.

Ten years of experience have developed my passion into professional work.  I specialize in creating layouts, mini albums, canvases, home decors, altered art and card making.  My style can be called modern shabby chic.  I love dimensional, layered arrangements with flowers, but with a modern fresh look.  I love to use mediums, especially watercolours, modeling paste, mists, gesso and masking techniques.  I adore watercolours and often paint my own motifs on my projects."

Visit Karola here:
BLOG   -   FACEBOOK   -   INSTAGRAM

Now let's take a look at the July SMILE & SKETCH challenge
followed by Karola's interpretation!




Karola shares these words about her gorgeous work 
and how she was inspired by our challenge:

"Firstly, let me thank More Than Words so much for the invite and opportunity to create something new based on the July MAIN challenge.  The word inspiration SMILE is lovely, very versatile and easy to interpret.  The SKETCH was very inspiring to me.  I had so much fun creating my layout.  

I think that the saying "A smile is the prettiest thing you can wear" is so true.  One does not need to wear trendy clothes or use material things to create him/herself into a beautiful person.  Beauty is in us and a great reflection of this is in one's sincere  smile.  I love the photo taken by my friend some time ago, as I am usually pretty critical when I see my smiles (do you know the feeling, when you see yourself as a Joker? Yes, that's exactly it! :))

To follow the fantastic sketch, I decided to start with a white base and then added watercolour paints to create my background.  I strongly believe that everyone can make their own unique and beautiful backgrounds using a wide range of mediums.  My favorites are watercolours.  A few flowers, white modeling paste, a mask with a brick wall pattern, and that's it!  For my title, I used stamped words 
with pigment ink pads.  

I hope I was able to inspire you a bit today and 
I hope you will join us in the fabulous July MTW challenge!"

And now, let's take a look at some close-ups:




How truly gorgeous is Karola's layout?  
You can clearly see the sketch inspiration behind it.  
We are sure you will all agree that this lady has talent!

Thank you so much Karola for being our Special Guest!

Now that you have all been inspired by Karola, we hope that
you will play along with our July SMILE & SKETCH challenge!


08 July, 2016

Announcing our June Winners!!

Thank you so much to everyone who got inspired to get a little messy
and played along with our June Challenge!  It was awesome to see
what MESS you got yourself into with your paints, inks, powders,
sprays, etc and a little creative IMAGINATION!

We have tallied the votes and here are the results...




 

OUR MAIN CHALLENGE WINNER

LISA GRIFFITH (entry 82)


 
Congratulations Lisa! You have won our June Main Challenge!
Lisa, please contact Alda at cs(at)flyingunicornllc(dot)com 
to claim your $50 USD gift certificate info from FLYING UNICORN


1st RUNNER UP

TANYA PALAMARCHUK (entry 88)


 
Tanya, please contact Aida at 13arts(at)wp(dot)pl 
to claim your $25 USD value prize from 13ARTS


2nd RUNNER UP

JENNIFER WALTH (entry 62)

Imagine

Jennifer, please contact Camilla at camilla(at)majadesign(dot)nu  
to claim your $25 USD value prize from MAJA DESIGN


3rd RUNNER UP

JENNIFER MARIE (entry 64)



Jennifer, please contact Tracey at tracey(at)lindystampgang(dot)com 
to claim your $25 USD gift certificate info from LINDY'S STAMP GANG


4th RUNNER UP

ELENA MARTY (entry 48)


Elena, please contact Anna at sklep(at)lemoncraft(dot)pl
to claim your prize of a $25 USD prize package from LEMONCRAFT


RANDOM WINNER


PAULA CALVANICO (entry 78)


Paula, please contact Vanessa at salesat2crafty(at)optusnet(dot)com(dot)au  
to claim your $25 USD value prize from 2 CRAFTY CHIPBOARD


MYSTERY WINNER



Oh, the sheer creative imagination behind this canvas!!
 What we loved most about Leslie's entry was that she was inspired to create this gorgeous ocean themed piece of art expressly due to the fact that she has never been to the ocean.  We do say NEVERMost of her embellishments are handmade (clay shells, old bottle, sea grass, mermaid and other).  You have to check out her blog to see her creative process that certainly wowed us!

Leslie, please contact Tanya at fabrikadecoru(at)gmail(dot)com
to claim your $25 gift certificate info from FABRIKA DECORU


MINI CHALLENGE WINNER

Tania,  please contact Pamela at langeaheart(at)hotmail(dot)com 
to claim your $25 USD promo code from THE DUSTY ATTIC


LUCKY COMMENTER
Ann, please contact Pamela at langeatheart(at)hotmail(dot)com
to claim your $25 USD prize package from our DT member Pamela


And last, but certainly not least, here are some 
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
from the Main Challenge who have received a high number of votes, 
but who didn't quite make it into our prize winning list, 

but very much deserved a mention:

KAREEN DION (entry 44)

KRIPA KOUSHIK (entry 28)

TANITA (entry 87)

NATALY KULYK (entry 56)

BADBARBIE (entry 85)

SHAZZA (entry 84)

To learn more about all our generous sponsors, 
click on the SPONSORS tab above!

We encourage our merit winners, honourable mentions as well as participants 
who have had your project featured on our Facebook page to grab your 
badge from our left sidebar and proudly display it on your blog!  
They were made just for you!

Now, July is well under way and we are loving your projects so far.  We cannot wait to see more of your interpretations of our 
July SMILE & SKETCH Main Challenge! Details are HERE.

Link up your project using the LinkyTool in the right sidebar
by July 31st at 11:59 pm EST.


01 July, 2016

July 2016 MAIN challenge
SMILE & SKETCH


It's July and time for a brand new More Than Words MAIN challenge!

Every month we are wowed by your talent and creativity, and we can hardly wait to reveal to you our new challenges in anticipation of what they will inspire you to create. And this month, we have some brand new DT members joining in on the fun!

Before we reveal our challenge board, we would like to take this opportunity to thank our departing designers for their wonderful contributions to our team for the past 6 months. It's hard to imagine a new term without them, but we have no doubt that they will go on to amaze us with more beautiful creations
in whatever artistic endeavours await them!

Thank you so much and the fondest of farewells to:


And now, without further ado, here is our July MAIN challenge!
\
Our MAIN challenge is based on a word inspiration and a creative challenge.
This challenge is open to layouts, canvases and art journal pages only.

Word Inspiration - SMILE
Creative Challenge - SKETCH

What does the word SMILE inspire you to create?
You can choose to add the word somewhere on your project or simply
be inspired to create from it. Please explain in your blog post
how the word inspired you, if not already obvious.

For the Creative Challenge, use this fabulous SKETCH designed by our very own DT member, Helen Hapsi. Feel free to turn the sketch in any direction your prefer. You can interpret any element of it as you wish, as long as
we can see that it was the basis of your creation.

VERY IMPORTANT! You have to incorporate both requirements of the challenge, the word inspiration AND the creative challenge, on your project to be eligible to win. Just look at our DT members' creations as example. Also, remember that you must include our board image and a link to our blog in your entry post. 
Please check out our rules in the RULES tab above!



Let's start by showing off the new More Than Words designers' interpretation.


Caroline: "Often when I ask my kids to SMILE for a picture, they do a silly not natural smile at all. But this time when I asked my little buddy to smile for me, he did his most beautiful one. My heart melts each time I look at this picture because he looks so happy to take a pose for me. I love Helen's SKETCH and was inspired by the mixed media elements of it and the slanted display of the photo."


Ekaterina: "My layout is about me and my niece. Looking at her, I always SMILE! She is a very lovely girl, so very intelligent and funny. Very soon, she will be my husband's goddaughter, and that means, mine too! I found the SKETCH so inspiring, especially the drawn flowers."


 Joyce: "With the new release of "Alice Through the Looking Glass", I can't help but think of the Cheshire Cat. When I was a kid, his goofy SMILE would evoke a smile from me. In the future, when I turn the pages in my art journal and find this spread, I'm sure he will make me smile then too. As you can see, I kept the focal point of my spread along with the photo on the right page just as on the SKETCH."


 Kristina: "My page is about a cheerful vacation day! My boys were dancing and invited me to dance with them. They look so much alike - my son is a small copy of his father, even in their dance moves, they are the same. I look at this picture and every time a SMILE appears on my face. What a beautiful SKETCH from Helen!"


Nupur: "The fragrance from the flowers, the chirps from the birds, the blissful walk in the woods and discovering myself all bring a SMILE to my face. The fabulous SKETCH served as a cherry on top for my layout!"


Wilma: "When I saw the word SMILE as inspiration, I couldn't choose between the Mona Lisa theme or this picture of my daughter, so I used both! It's like my daughter is daring the Mona Lisa to give her one of her best smiles! 
Thank you for the lovely SKETCH, Helen!  I made a video 
on my creative process that you can view HERE.


And continuing on with our returning DT...


Arantzazu: "The word this month reminds me that we always have to SMILE. Although sometimes life is a bit more complicated and we have problems for which we don't always have a solution... but we keep on smiling! I tried to recreate the mixed media splashes on the SKETCH with paint splatters of vibrant blue."


Lilibleu: "When I saw the inspiration word SMILE, I immediately thought of this picture of my youngest son who knows how to be charming with his best smile and at the same time we can see in his eyes his rascal side! I wanted to follow perfectly this beautiful SKETCH and it inspired a flowery page and a colourful background 
using different mixed media techniques."


Valerie: "SMILE, little girl! It's so difficult to have a natural smile in this family!! When I ask for a smile, she usually gives me a grimace. This is one of the pictures where she smiles, not a big smile though.  Perhaps the inspiration word should have been 'grimace' to make it easier for me. hehe I added drawn flowers 
and splatters of ink as on the SKETCH."


Di: "When I thought the inspiration word SMILE, I thought what better picture to use! Who wouldn't have a smile on their face, standing in this wonderful field of flowers? I also loved using the SKETCH as the basis for my layout design."


Elena: "My page is about my junior son. I think that the SMILE and laughter of her child is the most precious gift to any mother. I wish all children were happy and laughing! I used the SKETCH as basis of my design and added 
many elements to incorporate my own style."


Helen: "This month's word inspiration reminded me of this old family photo I had. Those two girls from Cyprus, friends of my grandmother, are giving their most innocent SMILE to the photographer. I really wanted to use it on a layout and this was the perfect opportunity! I followed the SKETCH for my project 
by creating a modeling paste background."


Pamela: "When I think of the word SMILE, I immediately think of this little lady... Kiki! She has the most amazing smile and has every reason to smile because after a long and arduous journey, she beat cancer! You can find her story on the Kisses for Keaton FB page. I loved the SKETCH - you can clearly see my inspiration from it in the display on the photo, the flowers and the mixed media elements."


Valia: "The word SMILE is a mental note to myself to remember to stay optimistic through life's challenges. I loved the mixed media feel of the SKETCH and I flipped it horizontally to match the orientation of my photo."


Rachael: "With my two children getting older, they are not as keen to get their picture taken as often, let alone together! So I thought this photo was perfect for the word SMILE. I had fun working with the SKETCH and adding some drawn flowers and many other elements inspired by it."


Nicole: "What a fun July challenge! When I saw the word SMILE, I knew I had to scrapbook one of my beautiful nieces, either one, as they each put a smile on my face all the time. This is Ella, the oldest of the two, when she was around 3 years old. What a cutie! I absolutely love creating with sketches and really enjoyed Helen's SKETCH with all its white space which made it so easy for me
 to make it my own."


We hope to have inspired you to play along!



All our prizes include free international postage!

MAIN CHALLENGE WINNER

a $50 USD gift certificate from THE SCRAPBOOK DIARIES

Here is more information about our 1st place sponsor this month:

"The Scrapbook Diaries is an online retailer for premium scrapbooking and paper craft supplies. We specialize in kits from the industries' top designers. Our kits come mailed with directions as well as access to step by step videos that enable you to follow the creative process of designers around the world. We carry products from international manufacturers and we boast the largest selection 
of laser-cut chipboard available on the web."


Next, 4 runners up will be each awarded a prize, as follows:

1st RUNNER UP

a $25 USD prize package from 7 DOTS STUDIO
(image below is for illustration purposes only)

2nd RUNNER UP

a $25 USD prize package from STUDIO 75

3rd RUNNER UP

a $25 USD store credit from THE DUSTY ATTIC

4th RUNNER UP

a $25 USD prize package from COLOUR BLAST
(exactly as shown below)


In addition, we will draw one random winner from all eligible entries!

RANDOM WINNER

a $25 USD prize package from COUTURE CREATIONS


Each month, we hand pick a winner who has not made it into our TOP 5, but who has captured our attention someway, somehow. We might pick a project due to its original use for a certain product, the cleverest title, most beautiful photo, etc... 
Who knows what we'll be looking for?

MYSTERY WINNER

a $25 USD prize package from FABRIKA DECORU

And last, but certainly not least, we will randomly award a prize to one lucky blog follower who has commented on any of our July blog posts.

LUCKY COMMENTER

a $25 USD gift certificate from MAGENTA


We have the best sponsors ever so we would appreciate it if you took the time to click on the SPONSORS tab above to learn more about them and their products.

Now, it's time to get creating on your 
July SMILE & SKETCH Main Challenge project!

Link up your project using our LinkyTool in the right sidebar
by July 31st at 11:59 pm EST.